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So this is it, my friends. The last preseason game for the Utah Jazz leading up to the 2015-2016 NBA Regular Season. It's almost time to take the training gloves off, but first let's look at how the team got here. The Jazz played their first two games in beautiful Hawaii, and beat the Los Angeles Lakers 90-71 and 117-114 (OT). They flew back to the continent with a 2-0 record and sights on a great season. They then proceeded to drop the next four games -- all against Western conference foes. The 101-85 loss to the Phoenix Suns showed a lack of effort, and we blamed it on jet lag. Then they lost to the Portland Trail Blazers without Damian Lillard, 88-81, and we called that a lack of focus. The Blazers then won the next game 116-111 after they played their starters down the stretch and made a great come back against the Jazz 3rd and 4th stringers. We call that a lack of 'chill' from their head coach Terry Stotts. The last game, two nights ago, was yet another loss, this one 113-102 to the Oklahoma City Thunder. And after a while it's not so much about what the Jazz are even lacking, but what does this team even have?
Quin Snyder dropped the motivational gauntlet on his team by talking about them to the press. We'll see if they respond. They almost have to. But the whole world will see for sure if they don't perform tonight against the Denver Nuggets.
Denver, on the other hand, is 4-2 and looking like an actual surprise team. Utah was proclaimed to be that team, but are now looking at a five game losing streak -- before the season even starts. That would be a downer for morale, and for our sakes they need to get a win tonight. Also for our sakes, the game isn't on TV. So I hope we get a win, even if no one is going to see how they get it.
Presumed Starters: (written at 4:03 pm)
- PG: Emmanuel Mudiay vs. Trey Burke
- SG: Gary Harris vs. Alec Burks
- SF: Danilo Gallinari vs. Gordon Hayward
- PF: Kenneth Faried vs. Derrick Favors
- C: Joffrey Lauvergne vs. Rudy Gobert
I don't know if these are even going to be the starters or not. We could see Randy Foye, Wilson Chandler, J.J. Hickson or your Uncle Dale in the starting line-up. I don't think Quin Snyder is going to shake things up with his starters . . . Trey Burke has been shooting well, and while we all love Raul Neto . . . I don't think rocking the Trey boat will help him at this stage.
Injuries:
- Dante Exum (UTA) -- out
- Jusuf Nurkic (DEN) -- out
- Randy Foye (DEN) -- didn't play last game
Anything else?
Remember when Chris Andersen's home was raided by Denver police in a child pornography sting? Whatever happened to that? Chris Hansen's Kickstarter was successful and To Catch A Predator lives again, and last I heard they got 10 new creeps on their first night out. Both of those things have nothing to do with the Denver Nuggets or the Utah Jazz, or the NBA for that matter. But you can watch TCAP online on YouTube tonight, but you can't watch (legally) this Jazz game. So, either way you can have an exciting night.