NBA Preseason: Utah Jazz at Los Angeles Clippers -- Game Preview

NBA Preseason 2012-2013, Game 5:

Utah Jazz (3-1) @ Los Angeles Clippers (1-2)

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The Basics:

Tonight is the last game of a three game road trip that had the Jazz . . . uh . . . traveling no where. All three games were in LA, and you could argue that the Jazz are more well adjusted and rested than the Clippers who played their previous two games in China.

The Clippers have played three preseason games so far, and lost to the Denver Nuggets, lost to the Miami Heat, and beat the Miami Heat. They haven't played since the 14th, but their last two games were in Beijing and Shanghai. As a point of reference, the Jazz played last night in Anaheim. So, yeah. Utah has been lucky to play against a number of teams resting key players. The Jazz will not be so lucky, unless you consider the ancient Chauncey Billups to be a key player. (And really, I'm not going to hate on Thrillups as he brought a title to Detroit while beating the Lakers -- and he's one of the few pro athletes that are on good terms with @AllThatPreeti, they last met at a drug rep dinner.) The Clippers are young, hungry, and healthy.

The Jazz are all of those things as well, except Mo Williams and Derrick Favors are game time decisions. Last night Favors bumped knees with some random Lakers replacement level player, and Mo sat out last night with an adductor strain. No word yet on if they'll play. Mo, along with Randy Foye, played for the Clippers last season (and the season before). I'm sure it would be nice of them to get a good ovation from their former home crowd. It is their revenge game though, so expect Randy to jack up 3 unnecessary shots tonight.

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History:

The Jazz and Clippers played three times last season, with the Jazz winning Game 1 at home 108-79 (The "Matt Harpring Tonight-Is-Lob-City" Game / aneurism); then dropping the next two 105-107, and 96-105. Down the stretch of both games the Jazz had trouble with the Chris Paul pick and roll. (Which was easier to handle with Deron Williams on the team) We made a lot of changes since last season, and the Clippers are an exciting team that reloaded quite a bit in the off-season as well. They've added Willie Green, Matt Barnes, Grant Hill, Lamar Odom, Jamal Crawford, and Ronny Turiaf for starters. What happened last season probably does not count for much this season as a result.

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The Game:

Tonight is our last game in LA, and we face this guys again at home later on this week. It's their first game back home, and well, both teams are far from finished products right now.

Mo+Randy revenge game vs. Team that's not injured.

Will the real Utah Jazz stand up?

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Word from the Badguys:

Steve is awesome, just hold on for this . . .

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X-Factors:

The X-Factor is totally going to be outside shooting. The Clippers get a lot of open shots, and their guys usually make them. We're new at this, and are doing a good job making our threes (43.8 3pt% so far in four games), while holding the other team to struggle level from deep (28.8 3pt%).

Also look out for Jamal Crawford to shoot a lot. Dude loves shooting against us.

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As an aside:

Can you imagine how great the Clippers could be if they had Jerry Sloan as their head coach?

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Fearless Prediction:

The Jazz win. Why? Because the Clippers will be playing "Too Cool Hollywood" style and not want to 'go for it', while the Jazz depth and pretty even talent (even for our bench guys) will carry the day. We're too deep. The Clippers will be looking forward to the playoffs and home court, they aren't playing for now just yet.