This has become a winnable game. If we could beat dallas in dallas at full strength.. utah missing 2 key players with not much bench help should be good for us.
Winnable in Utah? Bro, it doesn't matter who we trot out or who they trot out; when it's in Utah you can practically ink it in the L column.
I don't know if our record is worse in Dallas than it is in Utah, heck, I don't even know what our record at Dallas is overall, but if the past few years have been any indication of how we play in Dallas then we should have lost at least one to them at there place. However, not only did we beat them once, we beat them twice. I know our record sucks at Utah, but we have a pretty decent shot to beat them without Boozer and Brewer. If Jerryd, Batum, Rudy, Aldridge, and maybe Miller and/or Webster can have big games like they did against Charlotte, we have a chance.
I'm dead serious. The Jizz could trot out a 45 year old Karl Malone, 50 year old John Stockton and Greg Osterfat tomorrow and they'd probably beat us there. We got lucky a couple of years ago, but that was probably our lone 'W' for the next 5 years.
You're probably right. Oh well, I, like you, will be cheering these guys on and hoping they can claim another improbable victory. Would be nice, I hated the fact that we lost to this team at home a week ago. Hopefully the Blazers have revenge on their mind. Our starters and bench need to be ready!
2 things... we are due and they are due for a loss/bad game. they might be over confident against us after the last 2. hopefully they keep hearing that we have never had the lead vs them this year. get them a little cocky.
Before the Utah vs Portland game in PDX last week Barrett said that Utah had only won 22 times (ever) in Portland and that Portland had won only 16 times in Utah. Pretty much a home court series if there ever was one. That's just a tough place to play. Sure, no Boozer and Brewer helps our cause. Our odds of winning maybe go up from about 15% to 30%.
Not having Brewer is no biggie considering it will allow more minutes for Wes Matthew, Kyle Korver, and CJ Miles since they haven't been able to get consistent minutes. Kirilenko and Mansap are tearing it up right now, those are the guys that you have watch out for. This is the first time in years that I've seen throwback Kirilenko w/ the energy, blocked shots, and just plain out hustle.
I'll be serving up fresh crow for you Nik, if the Blazers win this game. I think they've got a really good chance. The Blazers are experienced enough to know how to handle pressure (especially guys like Batum and Fernandez who've played internationally), but young enough and new enough to the NBA not to know that you're "supposed to lose" in Utah.
As long as Bayless stays consistent at 14 PPG (over the last 7 games). As long as miller dishes out 8-10 assists As long as Aldridge is averaging 20 PPG (over the last 9 games) As long as Batum causes more havoc and uses his defense ability I could see us pulling an upset.
Webster usually plays well against the Jazz. Maybe if we could get two 24-point quarters from Martell, we could win this game.
