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The Utah Jazz have two more games to play before the All-Star break, and it's another two-games in a row romp down south. Tonight they are the guests of the Dallas Mavericks, and tomorrow they will have a Mardi Gras game in their old home against the New Orleans Pelicans. Dallas is a good team, no doubt. And they've had the Jazz' number down there in Texas. Dallas is going for their 30th win of the season, and their 50th win all-time at home hosting the Jazz. They went 3-1 against Utah last season, and have won 10 straight games in their arena. Earlier today we took a look at the Top 8 teams in the West and figured out that the Mavs have a worse defense than their offense. They give up more than they take. It's also an opportunity tonight for us Jazzfans to see some of our favorite former players! Even if they were almost all having better years in a Jazz jersey.
Dallas is 2.0 games ahead of Utah in the standings, and this game could be important down the line. They are also 15-10 at home and 19-14 against the Western Conference. Utah is only 8-15 on the road, and 13-17 against the conference, but a lot of those games were when 3-4 starters were out. (Looking back, wow, how did we manage to make it to .500?)
It should be a tough game for the Jazz, but with how the Jazz have won 6 games in a row I don't think they are going to make it easy for the Mavericks.
Starters:
| Mavs Starters | G | MPG | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PRASB | /min | ||||
| PG | Deron Williams | 45 | 31.9 | 13.9 | 2.9 | 5.4 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 23.4 | 0.73 | |||
| SG | Wesley Matthews | 50 | 32.9 | 12.0 | 2.9 | 1.9 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 18.1 | 0.55 | |||
| SF | Chandler Parsons | 46 | 28.1 | 12.3 | 4.5 | 2.4 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 20.1 | 0.72 | |||
| PF | Dirk Nowitzki | 48 | 30.8 | 17.6 | 6.6 | 1.7 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 27.2 | 0.88 | |||
| C | Zaza Pachulia | 49 | 29.4 | 10.1 | 10.7 | 1.9 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 24.0 | 0.82 | |||
| Utah Starters | G | MPG | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PRASB | /min | ||||
| PG | Raul Neto | 49 | 20.2 | 6.1 | 1.6 | 2.5 | 0.8 | 0.0 | 11.0 | 0.54 | |||
| SG | Rodney Hood | 48 | 31.1 | 14.6 | 3.2 | 2.6 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 21.5 | 0.69 | |||
| SF | Gordon Hayward | 50 | 35.8 | 19.8 | 5.1 | 3.7 | 1.1 | 0.3 | 30.0 | 0.84 | |||
| PF | Derrick Favors | 33 | 32.1 | 16.2 | 8.5 | 1.4 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 28.8 | 0.90 | |||
| C | Rudy Gobert | 30 | 33.1 | 10.2 | 10.4 | 1.6 | 1.0 | 2.5 | 25.7 | 0.78 |
Hey, we can play against another team with two bigs, oh, cap. Who guards Dirk?
Bench:
| Mavs Bench | G | MPG | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PRASB | /min | ||||
| 6 | Raymond Felton | 53 | 27.0 | 9.5 | 3.2 | 3.4 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 17.0 | 0.63 | |||
| 7 | J.J. Barea | 48 | 22.1 | 9.6 | 1.9 | 3.9 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 15.8 | 0.71 | |||
| 8 | Dwight Powell | 51 | 16.5 | 6.7 | 4.7 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 13.0 | 0.79 | |||
| 9 | Charlie Villanueva | 44 | 12.0 | 5.6 | 2.7 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 9.4 | 0.78 | |||
| 10 | JaVale McGree | 32 | 11.1 | 5.3 | 4.1 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.8 | 10.5 | 0.95 | |||
| 11 | Justin Anderson | 32 | 8.6 | 2.7 | 1.6 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 5.2 | 0.60 | |||
| Utah Bench | G | MPG | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PRASB | /min | ||||
| 6 | Trevor Booker | 48 | 22.5 | 5.7 | 6.4 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.6 | 14.7 | 0.65 | |||
| 7 | Trey Lyles | 48 | 17.5 | 4.6 | 4.0 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 9.8 | 0.56 | |||
| 8 | Jeff Withey | 38 | 14.7 | 4.8 | 3.9 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 1.3 | 10.9 | 0.74 | |||
| 9 | Joe Ingles | 49 | 14.3 | 4.0 | 1.7 | 1.1 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 7.5 | 0.52 | |||
| 10 | Chris Johnson | 41 | 11.4 | 3.0 | 1.8 | 0.8 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 6.4 | 0.56 | |||
| 11 | Erick Green | 4 | 4.5 | 1.0 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.3 | 0.51 |
Injuries / Absences:
| Injuries / Absences | G | MPG | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PRASB | /min | ||||
| PG | Alec Burks | 28 | 27.1 | 14.3 | 3.6 | 2.1 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 20.7 | 0.76 | |||
| SG | Trey Burke | 49 | 23.6 | 11.8 | 2.0 | 2.6 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 17.1 | 0.72 | |||
| PG | Devin Harris | 40 | 19.6 | 7.4 | 2.1 | 2.1 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 12.8 | 0.65 | |||
| PG | Tibor Pleiss | 12 | 6.8 | 2.0 | 1.3 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 3.8 | 0.56 | |||
| C | Dante Exum | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.00 |
So expect some more Joe Ingles and Erick Green tonight, fans!
As for tonight's Marquee Match-up, you have a few good options. Gordon against Chandler. Rodney against Wes. Or even Rudy against Zaza. But I'm going with Derrick and Dirk. This is a tough test for our guy, but you want to establish yourself going up against Hall of Famers. Earn your stardom, don't let the media dictate it for you.