This is game #2 for both of these teams, and both are still have as many wins this season as a bad church ball team. Like last night, a game where the young and inconsistent guys went up against a team built for the playoffs, we're going to see some disparate times. The Dallas Mavericks have the second best coach (in my opinion) in the league in Rick Carlisle, who has won 600 NBA games (playoffs and regular season combined). And that's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the advantages they have over us.
The first advantage, though, seems to be location. The Utah Jazz have never historically been a solid road team. There were a few years under Jerry Sloan and a veteran group led by John Stockton and Karl Malone where the team could reliably win on the road. Recently history made road wins as rare as getting all the green lights on the way home. This season, with a rookie head coach trying to get a team with the average age of 24.31 all on the same page, I can't expect a lot outside of the ESA. Especially not tonight, where the Jazz play in Dallas -- a place where they are 31-46 all time.
The second advantage, obviously, is that they have Richard Jefferson. We owe him.
I guess more reasonably, their entire roster is just a few steps ahead. While our back up point guard is a teenaged rookie their is a former NBA All-Star. Our best player is our starting center. Their starting center has won NBA Awards and played more career playoff minutes than our entire team put together. Oh, yeah, and they have this 1st ballot Hall of Famer who has won a ring from the PF spot -- one of the rarest accomplishments in the history of the league.
Jazz Roster / Depth Chart / Statistics:
Utah Jazz | G | MPG | PER | PPG | RPG | APG | A:TO | SPG | BPG | BARPS | /min | |||
1 | Trey Burke | 1 | 38.0 | 9.4 | 15.0 | 1.0 | 4.0 | 2.00 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 20.0 | 0.526 | ||
2 | Alec Burks | 1 | 36.0 | 19.7 | 18.0 | 3.0 | 2.0 | 1.00 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 24.0 | 0.667 | ||
3 | Gordon Hayward | 1 | 38.0 | 12.5 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 7.0 | 7.00 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 24.0 | 0.632 | ||
4 | Enes Kanter | 1 | 22.0 | 8.7 | 10.0 | 5.0 | 0.0 | 0.00 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 15.0 | 0.682 | ||
5 | Derrick Favors | 1 | 27.0 | 37.6 | 16.0 | 7.0 | 2.0 | 0.67 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 32.0 | 1.185 | ||
6 | Dante Exum | 1 | 10.0 | 24.0 | 5.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.00 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 7.0 | 0.700 | ||
7 | Joe Ingles | 1 | 4.0 | -9.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.00 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.000 | ||
8 | Rodney Hood | 1 | 21.0 | 9.3 | 5.0 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 0.00 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 10.0 | 0.476 | ||
9 | Trevor Booker | 1 | 23.0 | 23.7 | 14.0 | 5.0 | 0.0 | 0.00 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 19.0 | 0.826 | ||
10 | Rudy Gobert | 1 | 20.0 | 5.7 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 0.0 | 0.00 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 6.0 | 0.300 | ||
11 | Toure' Murry | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
12 | Ian Clark | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
13 | Jordan Hamilton | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
14 | Steve Novak | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
15 | Jeremy Evans | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
Mavericks Roster / Depth Chart / Statistics:
Dallas Mavericks | G | MPG | PER | PPG | RPG | APG | A:TO | SPG | BPG | BARPS | /min | |||
1 | Jameer Nelson | 1 | 30.0 | 16.3 | 9.0 | 0.0 | 3.0 | UND | 1.0 | 1.0 | 14.0 | 0.467 | ||
2 | Monta Eillis | 1 | 37.0 | 28.3 | 26.0 | 4.0 | 6.0 | 2.00 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 37.0 | 1.000 | ||
3 | Chandler Parsons | 1 | 34.0 | 1.4 | 5.0 | 4.0 | 0.0 | 0.00 | 2.0 | 1.0 | 12.0 | 0.353 | ||
4 | Dirk Nowitzki | 1 | 32.0 | 27.3 | 18.0 | 6.0 | 2.0 | 2.00 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 27.0 | 0.844 | ||
5 | Tyson Chandler | 1 | 28.0 | 15.3 | 8.0 | 10.0 | 0.0 | 0.00 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 20.0 | 0.714 | ||
6 | Devin Harris | 1 | 29.0 | 27.9 | 17.0 | 0.0 | 5.0 | 5.00 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 24.0 | 0.828 | ||
7 | Richard Jefferson | 1 | 13.0 | 15.9 | 6.0 | 2.0 | 1.0 | 1.00 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 9.0 | 0.692 | ||
8 | Al-Farouq Aminu | 1 | 5.0 | -20.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 0.00 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 0.400 | ||
9 | Jae Crowder | 1 | 11.0 | 15.5 | 5.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.00 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 5.0 | 0.455 | ||
10 | Brandan Wright | 1 | 18.0 | 22.7 | 6.0 | 5.0 | 0.0 | 0.00 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 12.0 | 0.667 | ||
11 | Greg Smith | 1 | 2.0 | -8.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.00 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.000 | ||
12 | Ricky Ledo | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
13 | Charlie Villanueva | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
14 | ||||||||||||||
15 | ||||||||||||||
INJ | Raymond Felton | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
For me the big battle is going to be between Gordon Hayward and Chandler Parsons. Both players had similar stats last season, and both did not make Team USA's roster. And in the summer both got big raises. They have a lot to account for when you take stock of the relative successes of their teams. Parsons is looking to bounce back from a poor game, and G-Time, Mr. Triple Couple, needs to find his shot. He can stop tanking now, we got Dante Exum. Someone should remind him. Both guys have a lot to prove, and I suspect they'll be ready tonight.
Injuries are not a factor, and I am conceding that none of our players can defend Dirk (maybe Jeremy?) . . . so I am just looking for individual improvement. Game to game. And month to month.
There were good things last night and bad things. And I think the final score of this game will not be indicative of the relative quality of our squad as they figure out who they are.