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Tonight the Utah Jazz will host the Orlando Magic. These two teams drafted #4 and #5 last year, and this season one team is 7-14, and the other is 5-14. Basically, they remain close. But I know the Jazz are going to win tonight. And here are 10 reasons why!
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1. Seriously, guys. Our team has lost a bunch of games in a row. But just like Trey Burke's shooting slump and Enes Kanter's lower rebounding numbers -- we knew that they were statistical anomalies. The team lost eight games in a row last year at the beginning of the season. They lost six games in a row back in 2010-2011. They also lost six games in a row back in 2007-2008. They lost six games in a row back in 2004-2005 also. Aaaand back in 1999-2000 they also had a six game losing streak. But when was there a losing streak WORSE than last seasons debacle? You have to go all the way back to 1982-1983 when the team lost nine in a row. So a bad streak like this has happened a little more frequently in the last 15 seasons, but it's still so statistically rare. They have lost seven in a row, but I really don't see them equaling that feat. Probability isn't that cruel.
And for the record, the Jazz lost 18 games in a row way back in 1981-1982.
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2. Orlando has more wins than Utah; but it's not because they're an amazing team or anything. The teams they have beaten were: Philly, Minny (in OT), the Knicks, the Bucks, the Pistons, the Hornets, and the Suns. The Jazz have also defeated the Suns, Pistons and Knicks. I have no doubt that the Jazz could handle Philly and Minny -- the Bucks and Hornets are harder teams. But it's not like Orlando has two more wins because they are, implicitly, a greater team. They just play more East teams.
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3. Trey Burke is not only undefeated against the Orlando Magic, but he also kills them. In the two games they played last season he dropped 47 points (7 threes), 9 rebounds, 12 assists (5 turn overs), 2 steals, and is a combined +29 in his 79:58 minutes of action. I don't know what it is about the Magic, or Victor Oladipo, or whatever, but he gets up for this team. (I think he actually HATES Orlando because of his poor performance in the Orlando Summer league, athletes are strange like that.)
Also this.
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4. Orlando is approaching the end of a six games in nine nights road trip, where they went @ IND, @ PHX, @ GSW, @ LAC, @ UTA, and @ SAC. Tonight is the first game of a back to back set, and in itself, the third game in four nights. The Eastern Standard time Magic played in / will play in the following time zones in sequence: Central, Mountain, Pacific, Pacific, Mountain, and then Pacific. Road trips out East have been demonstratively good for teams. Going out West, and playing 2-3 hours later out of your biorhythm? Not so much. Orlando 1-3 so far on this trip and aren't at their best right now. They beat the Suns by 3, lost to the Warriors by 1, and then were blasted by the Clippers by a hojillion points. You could argue that Orlando is going to have some fight right now to make up for their last game, but . . .
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5. . . . they are kinda injured right now. Their #4 pick in the draft, Aaron Gordon, is out tonight with a fracture in one of his foot bones. Roy Devyn Marble, another exciting rookie, is also out with a strained right rotator cuff. And the biggie is that their starting bigman, Nikola Vucevic. The former high school teammate of Enes Kanter hasn't played since November. He's not likely to play tonight either.
"@NikolaVucevic listed as questionable, but not likely to play. Injury diagnosed as back sprain." Via @JohnDenton555 pic.twitter.com/2ZcRXPmv7H
— Orlando Magic (@OrlandoMagic) December 5, 2014
Have you looked at their bigman rotation in Orlando lately? Vuc is a 19 and 12 guy this season for a reason, and that reason is that the rest of their bigs are named: Channing Frye, Kyle O'Quinn, Dewayne Dedmon, and the Canadian Andrew Nicholson. They don't have the horses to run against our bigmen if Nikola isn't going to play.
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6. Tobias Harris is having a great season, but Gordon Hayward is going to eat him up. I don't even need to go into it. You know it's going to happen.
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7. Bad Karma for Dwight Howard . . . (I'm pulling at straws here)
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8. Historically the Jazz are 31-19 against Orlando, and in the Delta Center / ESA they are 18-7. Utah went 2-0 last season against them. The Magic have lost the last 7 games against the Jazz, in a row. And they have lost 8 of the last 12 in Utah, including the last five games in Utah in a row.
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9. T-Mac sucks. And also Karl Malone is awesome.
I don't know what this has to do with tonight's game, but still, it's significant somehow.
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10. The Orlando Magic are a GREAT three point shooting team, and are making 37.1% of their attempts, and boy they do attempt 17.7 threes a game. But on this road trip they have gone 25/70 . . . which is a much worse 35.7% from outside, and they are taking 17.5 threes a game. So yeah. It's slightly lower. On both things. So there ya go. The Jazz aren't great at defending the three (teams AVERAGE 38.5% against Utah this year), so every little bit helps.
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Okay, maybe some of these are tongue-in-cheek, but we need to believe we can win. If you go into each game expecting to lose you will subconsciously be hurting your performance.