Utah Jazz (13-12) @ Boston Celtics (13-13) When: Friday December 19, 7:30 ET Local TV: KJZZ, FSNE National TV: NBALP Key Stats Boston home record: 7-7 Utah Road Record: 2-9 Last met: Boston 102 @ Utah 80 Standings: Boston, 7th Eastern Conference (.500), Utah 10th Western Conference (.520) Last games- Utah 74 @ New Jersey 87, Dallas 103 @ Boston 105 Probable starting lineups Jazz/Celtics PG: Carlos Arroyo/ Mike James SG: Deshawn Stevenson/ Ricky Davis SF: Matt Harpring/ Paul Pierce PF: Andrei Kirilenko/ Vin Baker C: Greg Ostertag/ Walter McCarty Coach: Jerry Sloan / Jim O' Brien Key Bench players Jazz- Jarron Collins, Raja Bell, Raul Lopez Celtics- Jiri Welsch, Mark Blount, Marcus Banks Injuries (Definite) Jazz: Michael Ruffin, Keon Clark, Curtis Borchardt Celtics: Raef Lafrentz, Brandon Hunter, Chris Mills Keys to the game Jazz 1. Chemistry problems. Boston have made a recent trade, and the new players may struggle with the system. If Utah can exploit this, they must do that. 2. Paul Pierce. Will be the Celtics go to guy, and they need to deny him the ball, or make him take forced shots with it. 3. Greg Ostertag vs. Walter McCarty. Ostertag has a huge advantage here, and needs to use it. He needs to get all the rebounds he can, so Utah can have a rebounding advantage. They struggle to win without one. Celtics 1. Watch Andrei Kirilenko. He will be everywhere, as always. If he's not scoring, he'll be getting offensive rebounds. On defense he'll be blocking shots and stealing the ball at every opportunity he gets. Boston can't let him dominate all over the court. 2. Scoring. In Utah's last game, they got 9 first quarter points but held the opposition to 13. If Boston can score a lot, Utah will be in trouble. 3. Rebounding. Greg Ostertag and AK47 will be looking to dominate the paint, and they should in this game, if Boston can limit their offsenive reboudning to no more than 3 each, and get some offensive boards of their own, that is good enough to have a shot at winning te game. Key Matchup Paul Pierce vs. Matt Harpring Key factors- Jazz are coming off 2 road losses and desperately need a win. Boston beat Dallas with high scoring offense but did let Dallas get 103. Ben Handlogten is back for Utah. Prediction- With recent form, I'm going to say Celtics by 5. But Utah can surprise anyone, and I'm hoping they do it. Jerry Sloan would've got into his starters to perform, especially Arroyo, so Utah has a good chance at winning.
There's some scary stats right now, Deshawn Stevenson has 16 points of 7-8 shooting and AK47 has 5 blocks with 6 minutes left in the 2nd. Utah 41 Boston 37.
The Jazz scared me towards the end, they seemed to have the game wrapped up then let the Celtics get back to back 3's and even the lead, Raja came through in the clutch though.
