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January Game Streams -- Canis Hoopus -- Jazz vs Timberwolves coverage
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The Utah Jazz have two guys on the coaching staff who are formers Minnesota Timberwolves players -- head coach Tyrone Corbin, and top assistant Sidney Lowe. Tonight would be a great game to get for this pair. It would be a great game to get for the Jazz too as they play a potential playoff team at full strength in their own gym. They are at full strength, and the Jazz will once again be without Hayward -- now missing another game to a hip flexor injury.
There really isn't much to cover here. Wolves are 11-8 at home, the Jazz are 6-16 on the road. This game is the 2nd game of a back to back set for both teams. This is the 3rd game in four nights for both teams. Both teams have Sunday and Monday off, and then will play again on Tuesday -- in Utah. Love is an All-Star playing great, Pek is a beast, K-Mart has historically torched us, we've had trouble with guys like JJ for years, and Rubio (I feel) is under rated on both sides of the ball.
I love our team, we have size and floor spacing. Burks seems to play his best in Minny (he had that game saving chase down block against Rubio a while ago, so I'll just post that video here). I want to see more from him this game, as he'll be challenged on defense. Will he have enough in the tank on offense?
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Starters:
Point Guard:
| Point Guard | Pos | G | MPG | PPG | RPG | APG | TO | A:TO | SPG | BPG | PER | USG% | AST% | TRB% | |||||
| Ricky Rubio | 1 | 39 | 31.4 | 8.6 | 4.6 | 8.0 | 2.7 | 3.0 | 2.6 | 0.2 | 14.9 | 16.1% | 35.8% | 7.9% | |||||
| Trey Burke | 1 | 29 | 31.1 | 13.9 | 3.2 | 5.8 | 2.1 | 2.8 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 15.1 | 23.6% | 31.9% | 6.0% | |||||
| -10 | -0.3 | 5.3 | -1.4 | -2.2 | -0.6 | -0.2 | -1.8 | -0.1 | 0.2 | 7.5% | -3.9% | -1.9% | |||||||
This is going to be a good test, as Rubio is a traditional pass first point guard, and Burke is more of a guy who creates his own shot off the bounce. Both are excellent at the pick and roll, and both are capable jump shooters. Rubio is playing crazy good defense this year and doing work on the glass. He's the *better* player right now, but the Jazz are using Burke for a lot more of their over-all offense. This is a good match-up to watch. Who wins this may well be the barometer for who wins this game.
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Shooting Guard:
| Shooting Guard | Pos | G | MPG | PPG | RPG | APG | TO | A:TO | SPG | BPG | PER | USG% | AST% | TRB% | |||||
| Kevin Martin | 2 | 37 | 32.5 | 19.1 | 3.3 | 2.1 | 1.8 | 1.2 | 1.1 | 0.1 | 17.0 | 24.5% | 10.7% | 5.5% | |||||
| Alec Burks | 2 | 1 | 41 | 27.7 | 12.8 | 3.2 | 2.8 | 1.8 | 1.6 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 14.7 | 22.9% | 17.0% | 6.6% | ||||
| 4 | -4.8 | -6.3 | -0.1 | 0.7 | 0.0 | 0.4 | -0.3 | 0.1 | -2.3 | -1.6% | 6.3% | 1.1% | |||||||
This is another surprisingly interesting match-up. Burks used to get killed on screens when trying to defend as a rookie. It will be a test of his development to see how he is able to stick to Martin. Martin is a way better shooter, and is scoring nearly 20 a game. They are essentially the same guy in all the other categories. Burks can be an explosive scorer too. Both guys really know how to get to the line.
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Small Forward:
| Small Forward | Pos | G | MPG | PPG | RPG | APG | TO | A:TO | SPG | BPG | PER | USG% | AST% | TRB% | |||||
| Corey Brewer | 3 | 2 | 39 | 32.1 | 11.5 | 2.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.0 | 1.6 | 0.4 | 10.8 | 16.2% | 7.2% | 4.3% | ||||
| Richard Jefferson | 3 | 41 | 27.6 | 10.6 | 2.9 | 1.9 | 1.3 | 1.5 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 12.6 | 17.2% | 11.0% | 6.1% | |||||
| 2 | -4.5 | -0.9 | 0.4 | 0.4 | -0.2 | 0.5 | -1.0 | -0.2 | 1.8 | 1.0% | 3.8% | 1.8% | |||||||
Wait, RJ is better than Brewer right? Right? PER seems to think so. Jefferson is even rebounding more. I'm surprised. Go RJ Go!
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Power Forward:
| Power Forward | Pos | G | MPG | PPG | RPG | APG | TO | A:TO | SPG | BPG | PER | USG% | AST% | TRB% | |||||
| Kevin Love | 4 | 5 | 38 | 36.1 | 25.3 | 13.0 | 3.9 | 2.3 | 1.7 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 27.2 | 27.8% | 19.2% | 19.5% | ||||
| Marvin Williams | 3 | 4 | 31 | 26.6 | 9.4 | 5.2 | 1.3 | 1.0 | 1.3 | 1.0 | 0.6 | 14.0 | 16.4% | 7.7% | 11.2% | ||||
| -7 | -9.5 | -15.9 | -7.8 | -2.6 | -1.3 | -0.4 | 0.2 | 0.2 | -13.2 | -11.4% | -11.5% | -8.3% | |||||||
Yikes. This is going to be interesting. Williams didn't get pounded on by Greg Monroe last night, so there's hope tonight. Love is like a whole average rotation player better than Marvin is, by the disparity in the PER scores. Love is a 25 / 13 / 4 guy, and Marvin isn't. All the best Marv, I (like a few other Dunkers like Diana) have unreasonably high confidence in you. We want to see you succeed!
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Center:
| Center | Pos | G | MPG | PPG | RPG | APG | TO | A:TO | SPG | BPG | PER | USG% | AST% | TRB% | |||||
| Nikola Pekovic | 5 | 39 | 33.2 | 18.0 | 9.1 | 1.1 | 1.6 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 20.3 | 22.1% | 5.4% | 14.7% | |||||
| Derrick Favors | 5 | 4 | 39 | 31.4 | 13.6 | 9.1 | 1.2 | 1.9 | 0.6 | 1.1 | 1.4 | 18.3 | 20.5% | 6.4% | 16.6% | ||||
| 0 | -1.8 | -4.4 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.3 | -0.1 | 0.5 | 0.9 | -2.0 | -1.6% | 1.0% | 1.9% | |||||||
This is almost an even match-up. Favors a better defender, Pek a better back to the basket scorer. There will be blood.
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Bench:
J.J. Barea, Alexey Shved, Chase Budinger, Ronny Turiaf . . . man, they have some good bench guys. Due to injuries and battlefield promotions to the starting lineup, we only have Enes Kanter and Jeremy Evans. I'm not sold on Brandon Rush right now, but he is doing what he needs to do every game to win me over. Diante Garrett has had diminishing returns lately. But hey, sometimes Enes Kanter is more than enough to do it all by himself.
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Coaches:
Rick Adelman (1020-728) vs. Tyrone Corbin (101-116). Let's just move on.
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Prediction:
It's very likely that the Jazz lose.
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GO JAZZ GO!
Poll
Who is going to win tonight?
This poll is closed
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28%
The Mighty Utah Jazz (14-27, Road: 6-16)
(7 votes) -
72%
The Minnesota Timberwolves (18-21, Home: 11-8)
(18 votes)