New York (7-15) @ Utah (11-9) Key Stats Knicks road record:3-10 Jazz home record:10-2 Last games: Utah Standings: Utah 8th Western Conference (.550), NY Knicks 10th Eastern Conference (.318) Probable Starting lineups Jazz/Knicks PG-Raul Lopez/Howard Eisley SG-Deshawn Stevenson/Shandon Anderson SF-Matt Harpring/Keith Van Horn PF-Andrei Kirilenko/Kurt Thomas C-Greg Ostertag/Dikembe Mutoumbo Coach- Jerry Sloan/Don Chaney Key Bench Players for this game Utah-Raja Bell, Mo Williams, Jarron Collins New York-Charlie Ward, Antonio McDyess, Michael Doleac Injuries (Questionable): Utah- Carlos Arroyo New York-Allan Houston Definite Utah-Michael Ruffin, Keon Clark Knicks-Maicej Lampe, Mike Sweetney, Slavko Vranes Keys to the game Utah- Allan Houston should be out, and he is the Knicks main offensive weapon. So if Utah can score a lot, the Knicks should find it hard to get more points and therefore win the game. Greg Ostertag and Andrei Kirilenko are going to have a battle on their hands when trying to control the baords, in the Knicks last game they outrebounded the Los Angeles Lakers 52-38. The Lakers had Shaq and Karl Malone so this is a major accomplishment. Judging by that, if Utah can outrebound the Knicks, New York will find it hard to win.Keith Van Horn played well in his last game, and he has a big height advantage over Matt Harpring. Utah will need to maintain him and will not want to get Andrei onto him and have Jarron Collins come on and play at the PF against Kurt Thomas. New York Knicks- Someone is going to have to step up and score a lot, or the whole team. Utah normally keep teams score's low, and do enough to win the game. Dikembe Mutoumbo and Kurt Thomas did well on the boards last time, and have easier opposition. They should look to dominate even more, because they have to to have a chance at winning. Keith Van Horn should look to go at Matt Harpring every time. He can look to go inside and try to get fouls on AK47 and Greg Ostertag or shoot an outside jump shot because he has a big height andvantage over Harpring. If Carlos Arroyo plays in this game, they must contain him. He's a quiet but deadly type of player and thye cannot forget about him or he'll get a lot of assists and/or points. X Factor -The rebouding, if Utah can have more rebounds than NY there is no reason for them to lose. If NY can control them, they will limit Utah's scoring and Houston wont be missed as much. Prediction- Jazz win by 10. 88-78.
Utah won, 95-73. They played good Defense, and scored well. They aren't playing that bad, they came close to LA and the Celtics are playing very well right now.
