NBA Preseason 2015: Utah Jazz vs. Oklahoma City Thunder - Game Thread

The Utah Jazz (2-3) host the Oklahoma City Thunder (4-1) tonight in just their second home game of the preseason. It's going to be an interesting game for both teams as they gear up for final cuts and try to regroup from summer mode into work mode. The season start is right around the corner and from the games we've seen both teams do float a bit. Jazz fans have seen a whole lot more floating because, well, head coach Quin Snyder has been more than content to rest his main guys and go out there with fringe players hoping to catch a contract with some other team, probably in some other league. I think the Thunder and their rookie head coach Billy Donovan has done a bit of that, but if you look at the top minutes gainers for both teams you get some interesting match-ups:

Top 10 OKC Players: Dion Waiters (106.0 mins), Andre Roberson (103.8), Kevin Durant (95.4), D.J. Augustin (94.3), Serge Ibaka (93.1), Steven Adams (92.5), Enes Kanter (91.9), Russell Westbrook (90.6), Anthony Morrow (89.7), and Nick Collison (71.3).

Top 10 UTA Players: Alec Burks (134.8 mins), Rodney Hood (117.5), Gordon Hayward (105.2), Trey Burke (93.7), Elijah Millsap (89.7), Trevor Booker (83.5), Raul Neto (82.7), Derrick Favors (80.7), Rudy Gobert (77.5), and Trey Lyles (77.0).

What's the difference? Well, for one, Burks and Hood are 'hongrey' for minutes this year and getting them in the preseason. Durant and Westbrook are playing minutes, but are being held back a bit. No one is being keep under wraps as much as Gobert has been though. But the big point here is that Joe Ingles isn't even in the Top 10 for minutes so far -- and thus the preseason means nothing. (This is essentially the Chewbacca Defense, but called the Joe Ingles preseason minutes defense.)

For those who aren't familiar . . .

This.

This.

And possibly this.

Anyway, the preseason means nothing . . . except when we win games. And hopefully the Jazz return to .500 with a win tonight. The Thunder are going to be resting Kanter, Augustin, and Mitch McGary are all out tonight. Everyone for the Jazz, save for Dante Exum, will be ready to play for the Jazz. I expect to see strong first and third quarters, and as for the fourth (and overtime?) I'll expect Snyder to let caution take over, and bench everyone.

GO JAZZ GO!