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The Utah Jazz get back to business tonight, finishing up their road trip with a game against the Portland Trail Blazers. The Blazers are sitting at 10th in the West, and the Jazz at 8th. The Jazz are 6-12 on the road, and the Blazers are 9-9 at home. They aren't as dominant as they used to be at home, and we're not as good as we were last season on the road. Something's gotta give tonight, and sadly, I think injuries are going to be a topic of concern. The Blazers were hurt when they played the Jazz in Utah back to start this season, and they won. The Jazz beat them in Utah in December, but the next two games will be in Portland. And it's going to be up to the Jazz to win, on the road, while hurt. Can they do it? I think so.
Here's how the starting line-ups look.
| Portland Starters | G | MPG | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PRASB | /min | ||||
| PG | Damian Lillard | 33 | 36.8 | 24.8 | 4.5 | 7.0 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 37.6 | 1.02 | |||
| SG | C.J. McCollum | 38 | 35.5 | 20.9 | 3.7 | 4.4 | 1.2 | 0.2 | 30.4 | 0.86 | |||
| SF | Al-Farouq Aminu | 40 | 29.4 | 10.9 | 6.7 | 1.6 | 0.8 | 0.6 | 20.6 | 0.70 | |||
| PF | Noah Vonleh | 40 | 15.4 | 3.1 | 3.8 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 8.2 | 0.53 | |||
| C | Mason Plumlee | 40 | 26.5 | 9.3 | 8.0 | 2.7 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 21.7 | 0.82 | |||
| Utah Starters | G | MPG | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PRASB | /min | ||||
| PG | Raul Neto | 36 | 18.6 | 5.5 | 1.5 | 2.3 | 1.0 | 0.1 | 10.4 | 0.56 | |||
| SG | Rodney Hood | 35 | 30.0 | 12.9 | 3.0 | 2.7 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 19.9 | 0.66 | |||
| SF | Gordon Hayward | 37 | 35.3 | 19.3 | 4.9 | 3.1 | 1.1 | 0.3 | 28.7 | 0.81 | |||
| PF | Trey Lyles | 35 | 16.8 | 3.6 | 4.1 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 8.8 | 0.52 | |||
| C | Rudy Gobert | 17 | 32.5 | 9.1 | 9.7 | 1.6 | 0.9 | 2.6 | 23.9 | 0.74 |
And this is the key bench guys.
| Portland Bench | G | MPG | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PRASB | /min | ||||
| 6 | Tim Frazier | 25 | 9.1 | 1.8 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 4.9 | 0.54 | |||
| 7 | Gerald Henderson | 31 | 16.1 | 6.6 | 2.4 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 10.3 | 0.64 | |||
| 8 | Allen Crabbe | 40 | 26.1 | 11.2 | 2.6 | 1.1 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 15.7 | 0.60 | |||
| 9 | Ed Davis | 39 | 21.1 | 6.7 | 7.2 | 1.2 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 16.4 | 0.78 | |||
| 10 | Meyers Leonard | 33 | 23.4 | 8.5 | 4.8 | 1.5 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 15.3 | 0.65 | |||
| Utah Starters | G | MPG | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PRASB | /min | ||||
| 6 | Trey Burke | 37 | 24.0 | 12.1 | 2.1 | 2.7 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 17.6 | 0.73 | |||
| 7 | Joe Ingles | 36 | 13.8 | 4.1 | 1.5 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 7.1 | 0.51 | |||
| 8 | Chris Johnson | 28 | 9.6 | 3.1 | 1.5 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 6.0 | 0.63 | |||
| 9 | Trevor Booker | 36 | 23.0 | 5.4 | 6.6 | 1.0 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 14.4 | 0.63 | |||
| 10 | Jeff Withey | 29 | 15.9 | 5.2 | 4.5 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 1.3 | 12.1 | 0.76 |
Everyone for Portland is ready to go, but the Jazz will once again by playing without Dante Exum and Alec Burks, while Derrick Favors is questionable, and will be a game time decision again.
[Edit -- Favors is super, duper unlikely for tonight, according to Quin Snyder.]
The Blazers are a very good offensive team 101.3 ppg (14th in the NBA), and have an ORTG of 106.0 (9th). Defensive they have their struggles, but for whatever reason, they do take care of their glass (10th best in the NBA). So if a stop is made they make sure to get the ball back. Utah wins their games by hitting the offensive boards, so this is going to be where the game within the game will be played.
If Derrick can play we have a good shot to win. If he doesn't, well, it's going to be hard to deal with their offensive power from Lillard and McCollum.