Utah Jazz vs Dallas Mavericks: Game Thread

This is it folks, the last game of the Utah Jazz 's season high five game hone stand. Our boys beat the Phoenix Suns by 7, lost to the Golden State Warriors by 7, beat the Sacramento Kings by 20, and beat the Oklahoma City Thunder by 20. Third 20 win game in a row? Not if the Dallas Mavericks have anything to say about it. The Mavs won the season series against the Jazz last year (2-1) and that included a win here. But overall, Utah is 60-22 against Dallas in Utah. Furthermore, the Jazz beat the Mavs once already this season -- 97-81 in Dallas. And since then the teams have gone in different directions.

Utah has continued to win and gotten healthier. The Mavs did the opposite.

Game Preview | Overtone | Five Things to Watch | Mavs Moneyball

Team Breakdown:

Rick Carlisle is a great coach, but his team this season isn't equal to him. Injuries are a product of so many older guys, and it's a downer. Dallas plays at the 29th 'fastest' pace in the league. Utah plays at the 30th. So expect a slow one. Dallas scores the least amount of points per game (93.2, 30th), and have nearly the worst offense in the land, 101.0 ORTG, 29th). A slow pace and a bad offense is not how you beat the Jazz, who want to play slow and have a Top 10 offense and defense this year.

Dallas is also bad on defense. They have won 2 of their last 5 games though. So they must be doing SOMETHING right. I wouldn't under-estimate them, though. Every team can win on any given night. Dallas, for example, could cause havoc with their ability to generate turn overs and very solid defensive rebounding. Those are ways to get more possessions. And that's a building block for tonight.

As for the Jazz, you know all about them by now. So I'll just shut up.

Fan Map:

AllThatAmar

Presumed Starters:

• PG: Deron Williams vs.Dante Exum
  
• SG: Wesley Matthews vs. Rodney Hood
  
• SF: Dorian Finney-Smith vs. Gordon Hayward
  
• PF: Harrison Barnes vs. Boris Diaw
  
• C: Salah Mejri (A.J. Hammons? Dwight Powell?) vs. Rudy Gobert

Injuries / Absences:

• PG: George Hill (UTA, OUT), J.J. Barea (DAL, OUT)
  
• SG: Alec Burks (UTA, OUT)
  
• SF:
• PF: Dirk Nowitzki (DAL, OUT)
  
• C: Andrew Bogut (DAL, OUT), Salah Mejri (DAL, Questionable)

Wow, the Jazz are . . . healthier than the other team? Whahappen?

GO JAZZ GO!