Game 59: Portland Trail Blazers (32-26) @ Utah Jazz (30-28)

[FJS]

VS

Friday, 23rd February, 2018
Salt Lake City, Utah
7:00 MDT
Energy Solutions Arena







BENCHES

[FJS]

TEAM LEADERS:

PPG: 26.1
RPG: 8.2
APG: 6.6
SPG: 1.2
BPG: 1.3


PPG: 19.6
RPG: 10.1
APG: 5.2
SPG: 1.5
BPG: 2.3

[FJS]

Jazz put 11-game win streak on line vs. Blazers

[Rauxcee]

The trappiest trap game there ever was.

[vryadli]

Jazz put 11-game win streak on line vs. Blazers

Interesting text. Among other thing it says: One thing is certain. Mitchell and Lillard will be the X factors in this matchup. The duo have put on a fun show in both games.

That is definitely true! Last time Lillard scored 39 and DM only 27, so Utah won.

As it is a very common case when 2 approximately equal teams, each with 2 volume fun scorers( other nice recent example - Lillard scored 44 but Durant over came that with 50, so Portland won). Typically, he team wins whose X factor player is better able to limit his X and to play relatively more for win and less for fun. I think DM has better chances, so he will score less again and Utah will win again.

[Crunch 99]

Yep, Lillard has been on fire lately, but if we can contain the other guys, Lillard can get a lot of points and we can still win. I thought Royce O'Neale's defense on McCollum was key to our victory last game. O'Neale helped hold McCollum to 1-6 in Q1, 1-3 in Q2 and 1-5 in Q3. McCollum scored in Q4, but the game was already over at the end of three quarters. I hope O'Neale gets at least 22 minutes of play tonight, and of course more minutes if Rubio doesn't play.

We also benefitted from Nurkic fighting a sore back, playing only 14 minutes while scoring zero points. In the first game against us this season, Nurkic scored 19 points on 9-18 shooting and grabbed 11 rebounds.

[Hikari]

I'm am worried the Jazz will come out slow and Lillard will come out hot.

[KqWIN]

A win tonight secures the tiebreaker.

[BudTugly]

So basically the playoffs have started for the WC today.

[Feilong]

Read on Twitter

[FJS]

Read on Twitter

Great!

[vryadli]

Read on Twitter

That is possibly good game to start return. If his return will need some readjustment and Utah will lose... that, but it could be loss any way. And if the team will pick up on cohesion where it left, there will be win for sure.

[ducler]

[LesGrossman]

If Rubio can play, i expect him to guard Lillard, not Mitchell - who will draw the equally hard assignment of dealing with McCollum.

I think Rubio can stay in front of Lillard; the key will be how the bigs help on ball screens. Nurkic is a great screener and there isnt much a guard can do when he is trailing over the screen to keep the ball handler from shooting the 3pt shot, unless the big defender is quick and mobile enough. This could be the key for tonight, defensively, against those two shooters.

[KqWIN]

Well, we all know how the Jazz scheme against the pick and roll. Lillard plays really well against us because he's one of the best in the league at shooting off the high pick and roll. That's the shot we concede.

[KqWIN]

3 minutes in and the Jazz have zero stops. No bueno.

[KqWIN]

Ricky airballed his first layup, then throws a pass to the defense instead of taking the layup the second time. Also no bueno.

[Pass_the_rock]

Ingles with some dumb playmaking early

[KqWIN]

Incredible amount of laziness on both ends. And of course a failed Euro foul by Mitchell. He's gotta have the worst foul IQ I've ever seen. He needs to be banned from fouling on purpose. He never ever gets it right. Just awful.

[dr0welf]

Ingles throwing away the ball like a high roller throwing away cash in Vegas.