Utah Jazz (1-0) at Golden State Warriors (0-1) Friday, November 5, 7:30 PM PST At the Arena in Oakland Starting for the Utah Jazz: PG Keith McLeod SG Gordan Giricek SF Andrei Kirilenko PF Carlos Boozer C Jarron Collins Aaaand, starting for the Golden State Warriors: PG Speedy Claxton SG Jason Richardson SF Mike Dunleavy PF Troy Murphy C Adonal Foyle Quick recaps: The Utah Jazz won their last game against the Los Angeles Lakers with a balanced attack and extreme defense by Utah, led defensively by Kirilenko with 8 blocks. As a team, the Jazz held the Lakers to under .300 shooting as a team, while shooting over .500 themselves in cruising to a victory. The Golden State Warriors lost a heartbreaker to the Portland Trailblazers who could not withstand a motivated 4th quarter performance from the recently traded Nick Van Exel. Although they had two chances to send the game into overtime, they were not able to capitalize on those chances. Key Matchup: Mike Dunleavy v. Andrei Kirilenko Kirilenko recently signed a maximum extention and is regarded as the future franchise player for the Jazz. His long arms and defensive presence may bother Dunleavy, who saw two of his teammates also receive big extensions, but who has been taking a bigger role in the offense this season. Dunleavy will also face a daunting task in defending Kirilenko, who is a latent offensive threat when he gets oppurtunities. Prediction: Although the Warriors, led by rookie NBA coach Mike Montgomery, will be hungry to get their first win of the season and are at home, they will have to face the Jazz, coached by the 16 year veteran Jerry Sloan. If the Warriors are going to get a win in this game, they will have to take advantage of Utah's recent point guard injuries, neutralize Boozer and Kirilenko with Murphy and Dunleavy, and get effective defensive efforts from their big men. If I were a betting man, I would have to put the odds against the Warriors in this early season game.
After seeing the lakers get swatted left and right by Borchardt, Kirilenko, Okur I'm thinking the next game will be kind of like NBA Live 2003 on default settings. Nothing but a huge block party. Let's hope this game our shooting and free throws won't be god awful as yesterday's. We don't have normal 80% free throwers miss constantly, players not hitting midrange shots because they can only score by dunking it, and wide open shot airballs.
This will be an even tougher game than last night IMO. It will hurt opening the season with back to back losses at home so the Warriors will need to match the intensity of the Jazz. Kirilenko looked amazing defensively yesterday, we need to get that skinny dude into foul trouble.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Rudeezy:</div><div class="quote_post"> we need to get that skinny dude into foul trouble.</div> I thought you wrote "we need to get that stinky dude into foul trouble." That would have been the awesomest thing I've ever read on the net.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting upsidedownside7:</div><div class="quote_post">I thought you wrote "we need to get that stinky dude into foul trouble." That would have been the awesomest thing I've ever read on the net.</div> Stinky? That gives me an idea. What if you purposely don't bathe for days so that you smell so horrible nobody wants to guard you in the post or get near you when you put those hands up on defense. Would you get t'ed up or ejected from the game or would the refs let it slide? Because if they did let it slide that'd be awesome! I'd give em a little extra by using my own brand of "zone defense" by eating beans and peppers hours before the Utah game and just laying one big enough to cover a 25' radius on the other side of the floor. Enough to make Kirilenko lose his hair and his athleticism completely. Anyone foolish enough to drive through the lane and do a layup will be burned alive.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting custodianrules2:</div><div class="quote_post">After seeing the lakers get swatted left and right by Borchardt, Kirilenko, Okur I'm thinking the next game will be kind of like NBA Live 2003 on default settings. Nothing but a huge block party. Let's hope this game our shooting and free throws won't be god awful as yesterday's. We don't have normal 80% free throwers miss constantly, players not hitting midrange shots because they can only score by dunking it, and wide open shot airballs.</div> Expect to see J-Rich explode dunkin over the shot blockers, just like he dad last year over Theo Ratliff. Might see Speedy blow by some people. Key to winnin this game has to be the midrange jumpers and 3 point shooting. I hope Foyle, Davis, and Uncle Cliffy can contain those big mofos over in Utah. If not, then hopes are grim.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting custodianrules2:</div><div class="quote_post">Stinky? That gives me an idea. What if you purposely don't bathe for days so that you smell so horrible nobody wants to guard you in the post or get near you when you put those hands up on defense. Would you get t'ed up or ejected from the game or would the refs let it slide? </div> I bet you there are guys who smell terrible but it's not talked about because its not exactly "halftime recap" material. As far as guys eating beans and farting as a strategy, The Nets may have to adapt that strategy to be successful this year.
Jerry Sloan will be a tough matchup more than anything. He's got a well coached team, and he's a great coach. Even if they did not have Andrei Kirilenko, they'd have Boozer and Harpring to worry about. They run a well executed play that almost always frees one of them up they'll shoot 9/10 for the game practically. I think Speedy, Murphy and Jrich will have to come up strong. Those are my three. If they do well, they'll forget about Dunleavy and maybe he'll have someone smaller on him next time he drives the ball and just shoot over the top of him. Just don't let him take the last shot
I think it will be interesting to see Murphy and Boozer go at each other. Talk about contrasting styles at pf, the only thing these two have in common is that they're both great rebounders. Who knows, we might see Foyle take Boozer and Murphy take Okur, but I'd really like to see these two play against each other. As for the unfortunate side topic we seem to have gotten on, I remember hearing some things about Radmonovic a few years ago regarding his personal hygiene, or lack thereof. But, I don't think he did it as a defense tactic, I think he just wasn't into bathing. I have heard of guys intentionally leaving their fingernails long so they'd increase the chances of cutting one of their opponents and forcing him to go out of the game while they stop the bleeding. I know Jordan and Pippen used to do it.
The Jazz jump out to another quick lead in this game similar to the Laker game. Who are these guys? This game should be a lot closer than the Laker game, but I think the Warriors should have put a bigger lineup on the court. Size was a key to the Jazz win against the Lakers, and they are getting inside shots early in this game. JRich and Speedy need to take advantage of the guard play to keep this one close.
The Jazz are out to another quick start, making nearly everything they put up and keeping the Warriors shooting % horribly low. I'm not sure how long they can keep this up for, but as long as they play like this it will be hard for anyone to stop them. They are spreading the scoring around and the bench can contribute. Their playing really well as a team aswell, assists are coming quickly.
At the half, the Jazz are only up 6. The Warriors finally picked up the intensity. I caught the final few mintues of the half.
And now we're back down. Murphy is 1 of 10. Jeez. And then he missed the easy layup. And it seems the only way Jrich can score is by dunking it. Oh man... Props to Dunleavy for taking it in and hitting some open j's finally.
We looked pretty damn bad tonight, the Jazz are freaking loaded. Lets get the clippers tomorrow night.
Tomorrow? Oh no back to back game, this doesn't look good at all. Here's a riddle, if you're not the Utah Jazz, how do you hold Jrich and Murphy to 30% shooting? Sign them each to a 6 year deal for 60-70 mil! Hopefully this new offense will find its way soon. Keith Mcleod looked sick tonight.
Is it too early to panick? Jrich and Murphy chalked the game against Portland to first game jitters. What is their excuse now? Second game jitters? This is horrible... Props to Dunleavy and Fisher for having good games. Dunleavy is playing solid so far judging by the stats.
Man was that game awful; the Jazz lay the wood to the Warriors and there seems to be no flow to the offense. It dosen't look to good for the Warriors. If the Warriors don't win tonight against the Clippers, the coming road trip will be harsh.
So far Fisher is the only big signee from this off season putting up any numbers. Well, Murphy had a double double, but he started off 1-7 from the field...
