ROCKETS at JAZZ
After last Tuesday Utah having played against the Warriors, they will play again today against an opponent that they faced in the playoffs last season. And again I make the same question: are there conditions for a revenge game? This time there are certain factors that can indicate that, as last season they went to a game 7 and these teams have faced each other a lot of times in the playoffs, but Utah comes from a big advantage for this game. Last season Utah won all 5 home matches against the Rockets and they also went 5-0 ats.
Utah has finished last season with one of the best home records (38-11), being the third best team playing at home. The Rockets haven't won a game in Utah since the 2005-06 season, enduring a skid of six games in the Jazz's arena. The Jazz have won their last home match in the last five years, but more important than just the stats is the form of both teams.
Houston had a bad match against the Lakers, as they still need time to play with the style Adelman pretends. The key for that game was the rebounds: 49-37 in the favor of Houston, which allow them to get a lot of second chances. Today they will face a team that absolutely dominates the rebounds, as they were the team with the best gap average rebound margin of last season and against the Warriors they showed that: 56-37 in favor of Utah.
The X factor of this match will be Kirilenko. The Russian player is in great shape and he almost had a triple double against the Warriors and his versatility will be very important to help Brewer in the matchup with T-Mac. Brewer is already a great defender, very aggressive and he comes from having 4 steals against the Warriors last tuesday. Yao Ming has always had a lot of problems to play against Utah and that will continue today. The Chinese player only had last season a total of 23-45 FG against Utah and now with the inclusion of Milsap in the rotation of the team, he will have even more problems against Utah.
On the other side, the interior game of Utah is very strong right now and even with Okur not in great shape, Boozer and Milsap are playing very well and the Jazz will dominate the interior game. The duel between the two point guards will be clearly favorable to Deron Williams. Alston has committed 4 to against the Lakers, a sign that he is yet to clearly adapt to the new style of play of the team. On the Jazz's side, Deron has already showed that he is in great shape.
This will be a very intense game, but the better form of Utah will make the difference today.
PLAY 1* UNIT ON JAZZ - 4
After last Tuesday Utah having played against the Warriors, they will play again today against an opponent that they faced in the playoffs last season. And again I make the same question: are there conditions for a revenge game? This time there are certain factors that can indicate that, as last season they went to a game 7 and these teams have faced each other a lot of times in the playoffs, but Utah comes from a big advantage for this game. Last season Utah won all 5 home matches against the Rockets and they also went 5-0 ats.
Utah has finished last season with one of the best home records (38-11), being the third best team playing at home. The Rockets haven't won a game in Utah since the 2005-06 season, enduring a skid of six games in the Jazz's arena. The Jazz have won their last home match in the last five years, but more important than just the stats is the form of both teams.
Houston had a bad match against the Lakers, as they still need time to play with the style Adelman pretends. The key for that game was the rebounds: 49-37 in the favor of Houston, which allow them to get a lot of second chances. Today they will face a team that absolutely dominates the rebounds, as they were the team with the best gap average rebound margin of last season and against the Warriors they showed that: 56-37 in favor of Utah.
The X factor of this match will be Kirilenko. The Russian player is in great shape and he almost had a triple double against the Warriors and his versatility will be very important to help Brewer in the matchup with T-Mac. Brewer is already a great defender, very aggressive and he comes from having 4 steals against the Warriors last tuesday. Yao Ming has always had a lot of problems to play against Utah and that will continue today. The Chinese player only had last season a total of 23-45 FG against Utah and now with the inclusion of Milsap in the rotation of the team, he will have even more problems against Utah.
On the other side, the interior game of Utah is very strong right now and even with Okur not in great shape, Boozer and Milsap are playing very well and the Jazz will dominate the interior game. The duel between the two point guards will be clearly favorable to Deron Williams. Alston has committed 4 to against the Lakers, a sign that he is yet to clearly adapt to the new style of play of the team. On the Jazz's side, Deron has already showed that he is in great shape.
This will be a very intense game, but the better form of Utah will make the difference today.
PLAY 1* UNIT ON JAZZ - 4
