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Utah Jazz (0-1) @ Dallas Mavericks (0-1)
Game Preview (Amar) -- Jazz Jam Session (Jazz Qs / Mavs Qs)
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Last season the Utah Jazz, a team built for the lottery, managed to win 25 games and did so in one of the most painful to watch seasons in franchise history. The team played slowly. They didn't defend well. And the offense was somehow lesser than the sum of its' component parts. During the summer the team did quite well for themselves at the draft, did okay in free agency, and hired a new head coach. This team is supposed to be a different team, while we don't expect the win total to change drastically, the product on the court is surely to. And Utah Jazz fans will be looking for that tonight, on the road, on the second night of a back to back against a playoff team.
Dallas was a game shy of 50 wins last season, had the 8th most prolific offense by ppg, and 3rd best in terms of their ORTG. They would lose in the playoffs in seven games to the eventual champions, the San Antonio Spurs. A better draw would have probably seen last year's team advance. Their season started with a 1 point loss against those Spurs, and no doubt, would want to take it out on us.
And they probably will, too.
Starters:
| Player | G | MPG | PER | PPG | RPG | APG | A:TO | SPG | BPG | BARPS | /min | |||
| PG | Trey Burke | 1 | 38.0 | 9.4 | 15.0 | 1.0 | 4.0 | 2.00 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 20.0 | 0.526 | ||
| Jameer Nelson | 1 | 30.0 | 16.3 | 9.0 | 0.0 | 3.0 | UND | 1.0 | 1.0 | 14.0 | 0.467 | |||
| SG | Alec Burks | 1 | 36.0 | 19.7 | 18.0 | 3.0 | 2.0 | 1.00 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 24.0 | 0.667 | ||
| Monta Eillis | 1 | 37.0 | 28.3 | 26.0 | 4.0 | 6.0 | 2.00 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 37.0 | 1.000 | |||
| SF | Gordon Hayward | 1 | 38.0 | 12.5 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 7.0 | 7.00 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 24.0 | 0.632 | ||
| Chandler Parsons | 1 | 34.0 | 1.4 | 5.0 | 4.0 | 0.0 | 0.00 | 2.0 | 1.0 | 12.0 | 0.353 | |||
| PF | Enes Kanter | 1 | 22.0 | 8.7 | 10.0 | 5.0 | 0.0 | 0.00 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 15.0 | 0.682 | ||
| Dirk Nowitzki | 1 | 32.0 | 27.3 | 18.0 | 6.0 | 2.0 | 2.00 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 27.0 | 0.844 | |||
| C | Derrick Favors | 1 | 27.0 | 37.6 | 16.0 | 7.0 | 2.0 | 0.67 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 32.0 | 1.185 | ||
| Tyson Chandler | 1 | 28.0 | 15.3 | 8.0 | 10.0 | 0.0 | 0.00 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 20.0 | 0.714 |
Alec Burks had a combination of a bad night and bad luck on defense as James Harden just couldn't miss one-on-one. Tonight he gets Monta Ellis, whom he has had a history of problems with. That sucks for him. But really what sucks most is anyone trying to defend Dirk. These are two of the best pure scorers in the league playing in a great offensive system for a brilliant head coach. Yikes. The consolation here is that Derrick Favors is a beast and Gordon Hayward can't miss every shot forever, right?
Top 5 Bench:
| Player | G | MPG | PER | PPG | RPG | APG | A:TO | SPG | BPG | BARPS | /min | |||
| PG | Dante Exum | 1 | 10.0 | 24.0 | 5.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.00 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 7.0 | 0.700 | ||
| Devin Harris | 1 | 29.0 | 27.9 | 17.0 | 0.0 | 5.0 | 5.00 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 24.0 | 0.828 | |||
| SF | Rodney Hood | 1 | 21.0 | 9.3 | 5.0 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 0.00 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 10.0 | 0.476 | ||
| Richard Jefferson | 1 | 13.0 | 15.9 | 6.0 | 2.0 | 1.0 | 1.00 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 9.0 | 0.692 | |||
| PF | Trevor Booker | 1 | 23.0 | 23.7 | 14.0 | 5.0 | 0.0 | 0.00 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 19.0 | 0.826 | ||
| Jae Crowder | 1 | 11.0 | 15.5 | 5.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.00 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 5.0 | 0.455 | |||
| C | Rudy Gobert | 1 | 20.0 | 5.7 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 0.0 | 0.00 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 6.0 | 0.300 | ||
| Brandan Wright | 1 | 18.0 | 22.7 | 6.0 | 5.0 | 0.0 | 0.00 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 12.0 | 0.667 | |||
| SF | Joe Ingles | 1 | 4.0 | -9.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.00 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.000 | ||
| Al-Farouq Aminu | 1 | 5.0 | -20.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 0.00 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 0.400 |
This is going to be fun to watch, as Devin Harris and Richard Jefferson have all the experience in the world; while the Jazz bench is talented but young. It's likely that we'll have to see some Steve Novak tonight, I hope. I think. Hood / Jefferson will be fun, but I really think that Exum / Devin is going to be problematic for our teen. Hopefully he surprises me. I believe in him.
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At the end of the game, for the Jazz, it's not going to be able who won the game, but how did the team play. Did they play better? What did they fix from last night? Are players getting more familiar with one another? And in the case of pretty boys Gordon and Chandler, well, it's kinda obvious that they have this strange Zoolander / Hansel thing going on. So that's always fun to watch.