Starting Lineups
Wesley Matthews hadn't been having a good year offensively for the first 11 games of the season with bits of great play. However, in the last two games that he's started in place of Brandon Roy, he's become the player we knew, and feared, he would become once he left Utah.
In the last two games, he has increased his shooting percentage 100 points while pushing his three-point shooting from 18% to 44%. That's not just a small sample size either. He's had 37 FGAs and 18 3PAs. That's helped him put up 30 and 20 points in those contests.
So now the Dread Pirate Roberts faces his old team for the first time in the regular season. He's always playing with a chip on his shoulder so I expect a little something extra from him tonight. We'll see how Bell handles him.
On the Jazz side of things, almost everyone gave the excuse for last night's loss to not having energy, focus, blah, blah, blah. I don't get why you can't have that on your home court, after a day's rest yet you can find it on the road and win four in five nights.
I expect a lot more maddening performances from the Jazz over at least the next couple of months. There will be moments that you're ecstatic to be a Jazz fan and others where you're ready to swear them off for good.
In fact, I would not be shocked if the Jazz marched into Portland and put up a 20-point victory. That's not because because I expect them to but because I don't.