Game Night: Utah Jazz vs. Sacramento Kings, December 4, 2007
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by CRS-ONE
Tonight, will they be the Sacramento Kings or Queens?
The Jazz are off to the Arco Arena tonight to take on the Sacramento Kings.
The Jazz and the Kings have had a rivalry during the turn of the century, pitting John Stockton and Karl Malone at the twilight of their career against a young and hungry team from Sacramento.
Since then, Utah has lost 19 of the last 24 to Sacramento. Times have changed. The Jazz are back to being one of the top teams in the West. Those up and coming Kings?
- Chris Weber was microfracture surgeried into uselessness.
- Vlade Divac retired once the league stopped being friendly towards floppers.
- Jason Williams was shipped out for being too sloppy.
- Peja Stojakovic was shipped out for losing his trigger finger.
The glory days of the early double 0's are over. The current Kings roster is a mix of a few reserve All Stars, never were's and people lucky to still be in the league.
At the forward, Sacramento's best player is Ron Artest. He can score in bunches and is one of the best defensive players in the league. He's going to give Carlos Boozer and Andrei Kirilenko some trouble, but none of the Kings forwards will be to useful. Compare that to the Jazz, who have Paul Millsap waiting in the wings.
Both teams' centers are a wash. Both Brad Miller and Mehmet Okur can shoot from the outside and rebound. Okur showed last night that he might be out of his slump.
Biggest challenge for the Jazz tonight will be defending Sacramento's guards. With Mike Bibby out, Francisco Garcia, Kevin Martin, John Salmons and Beno Udrih have been given the green light to shoot their hearts out. Together, they are averaging over 66 points a game.
The other subplot is the battle of the coaches. First year Kings coach Reggie Theus played for the Jazz under Jerry Sloan back in the day. The two didn't see eye-to-eye, and Theus soon moved on.
Theus also played for the Kings under Phil Johnson, who happens to be Sloan's top assistant coach.
To make things even more funny or strained, Kings assistant coach Kenny Natt is a former assitant coach of Sloan's.
The first Sloan/Theus coaching battle was on November 12, with the Jazz winning.
I'd like to say that this is the Jazz's game to win, as they're playing at a much higher level than the Kings. The Jazz still need to prove that they can win on the road and should do so tonight.
