<div align="center"> <font color="Indigo">Phoenix Suns</font> (11-2) @ <font color="Navy">Utah Jazz</font> (8-6)</div> When: Tuesday 30th November, 9:00 PM (EST) Where: Delta Center Local TV: UPN 45 National TV: NBALP <div align="center">Likely Starters <font color="Indigo">Suns</font> <font size="1">Steve Nash, Joe Johson, Quentin Richardson, Shawn Marion, Amare Stoudemire</font></div> <div align="center"><font color="Navy">Jazz</font> </div> <div align="center"><font size="1">Carlos Arroyo, Gordan Giricek, Matt Harpring, Carlos Boozer, Jarron Collins</font></div> Injured List <font color="Navy">Jazz:</font> Raul Lopez, Kris Humphries, Aleksandar Radojevic <font color="Indigo">Suns:</font> Zarko Cabarkapa, Yuta Tabuse Key Matchup Shawn Marion vs. Carlos Boozer Marion will find his job a lot easier with Kirilenko out. Boozer's defense has always been questionable, and Marion has a huge athleticism advantage, and wont have to worry about having his shot blocked from nowhere by AK47. Boozer needs to use his strength advantage, and take Marion down to the low post and go to work. Without Kirilekno, Boozer will have to do a lot more scoring. Prediction Utah are struggling right now, and things have been made even more difficult going up against Phoenix without AK47. He averages over 4 BPG, and is a big defensive presence. Phoenix, already a high scoring team, will score a lot of points without him there. Utah will struggle to keep up. Phoenix 106 Utah 88
This will be a tough one for the Jazz. With the loss to Kirilenko, they're gonna have to make up for his abscence on both ends of the court, and while Harp is good, I don't know if he can do it, well, at least defensively. Also, Collins is going to have a tough game against Amare, who has been playing great. They're going to need to shut him down and make him the focal part of the defense. Problem is though, you never know when someone like QRich or Marion can light it up. So, all in all, I think the Jazz are going to have a tough time against this surprising and talented Phoenix Suns team, and I, unfortunately for Jazz fans, see the Suns taking this one by 8.
With AK, this could of been a good game; without AK, it will probably be a bad game for the Jazz. While Harpring should be able to give us what AK did on the offense, while his defense will not be as good and especially against the highest scoring team in the NBA.
Suns win 115 - 102. The Jazz sure could of used Kirilenko, they only got one blocked shot as a team. Boozer played well for Utah, 27 points and 18 rebounds. The Jazz played well, and were in it at the start of the 4th, only down by 2. But you can't just play well, you have to win and I think Utah may of done that with Kirilenko's presence defensively.
