Game Night: Utah Jazz vs. Portland Trail Blazers, December 11, 2007
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by CRS-ONE
The Utah Jazz finished up their three game road trip 0-3. Ouch.
They blew leads against the Sacramento Kings and the San Antonio Spurs. On Saturday, they got smacked around by the Dallas Mavericks. Josh Howard dropped 47 points on the Jazz, tying Tracy McGrady's highest player score this season. In case your wondering, Tracy also dropped 47 on the Jazz.
Tonight they face a young Portland Trailblazers team at home. Much like the Jazz, the Blazers are struggling on the road, 1-9 so far. On the flipside, the Jazz are one of the best home court teams with a record of 8-1. That loss, coincidently, was the night that Tracy went for 47.
Like any team that's rebuilding, Portland doesn't really look like they're going to pick up a win tonight. They're number one pick in this summer's draft was Greg Oden, who is out with the dreaded potential career ruining microfracture surgery. Blazers management and fans everywhere are hoping he doesn't turn into a modern day Sam Bowie.
Portland's offense is built around super talented second year guard Brandon Roy, who can do everything. He passes well, can score, earnest defense and is emerging into the team's leader.
The Blazers' other weapon is power forward/center LaMarcus Aldridge, who is having a great year. They don't have a lot of depth with their bigs, and Aldridge is playing very well, averaging close to 17 points, 7 rebounds a game. At the guard, they do have some depth with Jarrett Jack and Steve Blake.
This is a very winnable game for the Jazz and an opportunity to work on their defense. The one thing that the Jazz proved so far this season is that they can score. They've been better on guarding the perimeter, but they need to step up their help and interior defense.
The Jazz lost three close games last week. Tonight they're going to pull the stops and try to steamroll over the Blazers to get over their funk.
They'll need to get back on track. They play the Phoenix Suns tomorrow.
