NBA Regular Season 2012-2013, Game 28:
Utah Jazz (14-13) at Miami Heat (17-6)
#UTAatMIA Game Stream -- Hot Hot Hoops -- Jazz vs Heat coverage
Enes Kanter is took his talents to a Miami VD clinic, I'm thinking . . .
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The Basics:
I really don't want to write much about this game right now. I've been overworked and doing a lot of extra stuff for the Holidays. (Hey, not everyone can take the days/weeks off) Miami won the championship last year, and two years ago lost in the NBA Finals. They added Ray Allen, seriously, Ray Freeking Allen, to their team. That's not their only roster move but serious . . . that's insane. We couldn't even get ex-Heat bigman Rony Seikaly to join our team after we had gone to the Western Conference Finals 4 times in 6 years. (our last run, which made it 5 out of the last 7 -- would have been with the big man) Miami is 12-2 and home and won 7 of their last 10. We're currently in 9th in the west, 5-11 on the road, and 5-5 in our last 10. It's going to be interesting.
And by interesting, I mean predictable.
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History:
The Heat are one of the newer franchises in the league, yet they have 2 rings and we have none. We've only played them 50 times, and we're 30-20 in these meetings. We're only 12-12 on the road though. We've won here half the time though, so it's not that lopsided. After all, we've beaten the Heat even at their apex in terms of talent disparity. The two teams faced off only once last year, and we won it on a Devin Harris And-1 jumper at home, Jazz 99, Heat 98. We've actually secured wins against the Heat at least once for the last 3 seasons. Let's hope the streak continues.
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Scouting, Stats, and Stereotypes:
They good on offense. Not so hot on the glass. They hardly get stolen or blocked. They're #1 in three point %. We're. Well. We're the Jazz. And that means we have no idea what we're going to come out and play like on any given night.
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Injury Report:
Heat Injuries --
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Terrel Harris (SG) QUESTIONABLE -- Terrel Harris is questionable tonight with flu-like symptoms. So that means he'll score 34 on us tonight. Seriously, I actually have no clue who this player is. But he's played in 24 minutes this season, and 318 last year. I hope he feels better soon though.
Jazz Injuries --
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Raja Bell (SG) OUT -- Raja doesn't want to risk getting injured right before his eventual trade to the Lakers or Heat. Good move Raja. Playin' it smart.
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Advantage --
Derp.
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The Game:
We got blasted in Indy and are into game 3 of 4 on the road -- and this will be the 3rd game in 5 nights? Doesn't have the same ring to it. Anyway. We've had two days off. Miami is in the middle of a home stand, so they too aren't really affected by much.
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Player Focus:
Paul Millsap.
Enough said.
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X-Factors:
The only thing in question is to see how lukewarm some of our local media guys will be if it's another blowout and Alec Burks performs well in garbage time.
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Word from the Badguys:
I couldn't find any Heat fans.
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As an aside:
I'll never forget Glenn Rice's pre-draft interview / workout with the Heat. It's a great story that I'll tell you some other time. One of the Top 10 most fantastic bball moments I can remember off the top of my head right now. So much swagg. Ridiculous. They almost HAD to draft him with what he did in that workout.
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Fearless Prediction:
Jazz lose. Why? We just don't have that premiere talent to win a game against a group of stars. Being a star means you can get away with more on offense and on defense. We'll see this in action tonight in terms of guys on their side getting the benefit of the doubt more times than not on certain plays. That's the NBA. We used to enjoy that too back when we had Karl Malone and John Stockton on our squad.