Boston Celtics (8-12) @ Utah Jazz (11-8) Key Stats Jazz home record : 10-1 Celtic's road record : 4-6 Streaks- Utah won 1, Celtics won 1 Last met-Teams have not met this season Last games- Utah 92 Lakers 94 Celtics-116 @ Nuggets 111 Standings- Jazz 7th Western Conference (.579) Celtics 8th Eastern Conference (.400) Likely Starters: Jazz/Celitcs PG: Raul Lopez/Mike James SG: Deshawn Stevenson/Jiri Welsch SF: Matt Harpring/Paul Pierce PF: Andrei Kirilenko/Vin Baker C: Greg Ostertag/Mark Blount Coach: Jerry Sloan/Jim O'Brien Injuries-Definite, Jazz: Keon Clark, Michael Ruffin Celtics:Brandon Hunter, Kendrick Perkins, Chris Mills Questionable- Jazz : Carlos Arroyo Keys to the game Jazz Shut down Paul Pierce. He played a good game against Denver yesterday and will be looking to play another one like that. He was only 3 boards shy of a triple double. Jiri Welsch had a career high 19 points yesterday so Utah can't afford to leave him open. Utah has an advantage at the PF and C spots so they have to make use of this. Andrei Kirilenko played horrible against the Lakers where the Jazz needed him and he must pick up his game for Utah to win. Greg Ostertag is guarding Shaq, so he should look to be more of a presence in the paint and get the rebounds. Raul Lopez and Mo Willism have had some very hard opposition at the PG spot with Carlos Arroyo out but they are up against Mike James so it should be significantly easier and they can look to score more. Mo Williams played extremely well against Gary Payton so he needs to get some minutes. Utah needs to give Ben Handlogten some minutes because as Jerry Sloan said, he wasn't scared of the Lakers. Celtics The Celtics need to hit the open jumpers and knock them down all night. They're likley to get little points from in the paint, so the Celtics guards and Paul Pierce must knock down their shots and get a lot of points. If they have a low shooting % against Utah they will struggle to have a chance at winning. Paul Pierce will need to have another good game and stop Matt Harpring from scoring for Utah, he can really hurt teams if given the chance. Vin Baker has to try and stop Andrei Kirilenko, he played bad yesterday, which suggests he'll play well today because when he plays bad the next game he'll play well. Andrei is undersized so he can try to stop him in the post. If Andrei takes him out to the perimeter Mark Blount has got to stop anyone who drives on the Jazz. Mike James and Jiri Welsch have got to play well, especially Jiri Welsch. Raul Lopez and Mo Williams have played well against the top PG's in the league so he can't expect to dominate them. Jiri will need to take the pressure off Paul Pierce by scoring like he did yesterday. Key Matchup- Matt Harpring vs. Paul Pierce X Factor- Jazz- How well Greg Ostertag and AK47 combine in the post with rebounding and scoring. Celtics- Their shooting. If they aren't shooting well they'll have no chance. Unless Vin Baker and Mark Blount can win them the game in the post. Prediction- Celtics are coming off a good win against a Nuggets team who were on 6 straight wins but the Jazz are at the Delta Center and almost upset lakers. Jazz by 7.
Jazz are getting killed right now, 54-77 at the end of the 3rd. Boston are shooting more but that's about the only difference statistically. Boston might be starting a good run, away win against a red hot Denver and it looks like away win against the Jazz at the Delta Center were Utah were 10-1. Utah will be back, they need a rest between games and hopefully they will get that after this game.
Wow, they got crushed by the Celtics after a great game against the Lakers. Definately didn't expect a blow out at home.
That's how all the analysts at the start of the season said Utah would play like. Can't say I like it. At least Raef Lafrentz played well, but he'll get limited minutes until he has surgery on his leg.
