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Tonight the Utah Jazz take on the Phoenix Suns. These two teams are pretty linked . . . and not just the head coach or time zone. Both teams are also in the thick of things in the Western Conference playoff race. Utah is 11-14 and Phoenix is 12-17. Both aren't great records, but they are separated by 1.0 games, with the Jazz up at the 8th seed, and the Suns at the 9th. Thankfully, there are a number of differences between these two teams. The Jazz are at home, where they are 54-31 against the Suns. The Suns are completely healthy, while the Jazz are not. And Utah had the night off last night, but Phoenix did not. All in all, it should be a good game at the Aunt Viv.
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Starters:
| Player | GS | G | MPG | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PER | USG% | REB% | AST% | ORTG | DRTG | |||
| 1 | Eric Bledsoe | 28 | 28 | 35.2 | 21.8 | 4.1 | 6.4 | 2.1 | 0.7 | 22.1 | 27.8% | 6.5% | 30.9% | 109 | 104 | ||
| 2 | Brandon Knight | 29 | 29 | 35.5 | 19.5 | 4.1 | 5.1 | 1.5 | 0.4 | 17.2 | 25.7% | 6.4% | 23.5% | 104 | 107 | ||
| 11 | Raul Neto | 23 | 24 | 16.9 | 5.1 | 1.4 | 2.1 | 0.9 | 0.0 | 10.6 | 17.0% | 4.8% | 20.3% | 97 | 106 | ||
| 2 | Rodney Hood | 24 | 24 | 29.5 | 11.8 | 2.6 | 2.7 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 12.1 | 20.2% | 5.2% | 15.5% | 103 | 108 |
Their starting back court is really good compared to what the Jazz are forced to throw up there.
| Player | GS | G | MPG | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PER | USG% | REB% | AST% | ORTG | DRTG | |||
| 3 | P.J. Tucker | 29 | 29 | 26.6 | 5.9 | 5.1 | 1.2 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 8.9 | 11.4% | 10.6% | 6.4% | 101 | 106 | ||
| 4 | Jon Leuer | 13 | 29 | 20.7 | 8.8 | 5.8 | 1.3 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 16.7 | 17.9% | 15.6% | 9.9% | 111 | 104 | ||
| 5 | Tyson Chandler | 18 | 20 | 23.3 | 4.9 | 7.8 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 11.1 | 10.6% | 18.6% | 2.6% | 103 | 103 | ||
| 3 | Gordon Hayward | 25 | 25 | 35.2 | 18.7 | 4.9 | 3.1 | 1.1 | 0.2 | 18.0 | 24.5% | 8.1% | 15.7% | 110 | 107 | ||
| 14 | Trey Lyles | 9 | 23 | 12.7 | 2.5 | 3.0 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 5.4 | 13.2% | 13.8% | 5.2% | 86 | 108 | ||
| 4 | Derrick Favors | 24 | 24 | 32.6 | 16.8 | 8.6 | 1.5 | 1.6 | 1.1 | 24.2 | 22.7% | 15.4% | 9.0% | 117 | 102 |
Utah may go with Lyles here, instead of Withey or whatever. (Or whatever . . . the new motto for the 2015-16 season) Phoenix isn't getting a lot of firepower from their starting bigs . . . but their bench bigs will give the team trouble.
Key bench:
- Ronnie Price vs. Trey Burke
- Devin Booker vs. Alec Burks
- T.J. Warren vs. Joe Ingles
- Markieff Morris vs. Trevor Booker
- Alex Len vs. Jeff Withey
Injuries / Absences:
- Rudy Gobert (UTA starting center) -- OUT
- Dante Exum (UTA starting point guard) -- OUT