Suns @ Jazz Monday 01-25 7 PM MT

[Soul Patch]

Can someone here describe to me how it feels to have a competent coach?

It's real nice for most. Some people will find anything to bitch about though.

[PDXKnight]

Blazers lost to Hornets...

I wouldn't worry about us. Utah's clearly the better team and Portland is clearly not a playoff team IMO. I'd bet the house that I don't own that we (portland) fail in the second half with our injury riddled roster. No big man, no playoffs. I would willingly give Portland's seed to the Grizzlies right now, that's how sure I am we won't be there...

[@ndrew]

Blazers lost to Hornets...

I wouldn't worry about us. Utah's clearly the better team and Portland is clearly not a playoff team IMO. I'd bet the house that I don't own that we (portland) fail in the second half with our injury riddled roster. No big man, no playoffs. I would willingly give Portland's seed to the Grizzlies right now, that's how sure I am we won't be there...

Man, that's really hard. I really admire your team - after all this injuries you're still able to fight. That's a great thing to watch!

[PDXKnight]

Blazers lost to Hornets...

I wouldn't worry about us. Utah's clearly the better team and Portland is clearly not a playoff team IMO. I'd bet the house that I don't own that we (portland) fail in the second half with our injury riddled roster. No big man, no playoffs. I would willingly give Portland's seed to the Grizzlies right now, that's how sure I am we won't be there...

Man, that's really hard. I really admire your team - after all this injuries you're still able to fight. That's a great thing to watch!

Meh, let's just say I'm still having nightmares about our 3 minute drought to end the game today. A lot of the time it's hard to lower your expectations of a team, especially when a depleted roster is still producing wins. Realistically Portland should have a worse record right now, but somehow we've managed to stay afloat. It'll be hard to continue to contend for a playoff spot in the west, but who knows, I guess anything's possible. That said, I think it's looking more and more like Portland's going to have to settle for the 7th or 8th seed while Utah should (in theory) be in a better position to take a higher seed. It's interesting, I've always thought Utah has had plenty of talent, now it looks like your guys are beginning to climb up in the win column as the season progresses.

[tylero87]

I remember we played at Phoenix last season and Amare TORCHED Millsap on the boards. One reason why I never wanted him to replace Boozer. This run-n-gun crap doesn't work against us, Jazz by 20.

Agreed, the Jazz shouldn't have any problem with this game if they do the following:

Keep Phoenix in half court sets, limit fast break points
Rebound, rebound, rebound
Defend the 3
Take the ball inside, their interior D shouldn't give the Jazz too many problems

D-Will has a huge advantage against Nash, I'd like to see Boozer handle Amare and for Kirilenko to keep playing the way he has of late and the Jazz should win.

X-Factor: Memo has been on fire against the Suns over the few years and averages upwards 20 a game against these guys.

So great game eh Jazz fans? Coming back to my points for a Jazz victory I thought they did just about everything right....

-Keep Phoenix in the half court sets and limit fast break points: The Suns did a good job executing in the half court sets, so many open looks from 3 with just a simple pick and roll...Suns also had 24 assists, not bad...As for fast break Phoenix was able to rack up 24 of them but the Jazz had a dominating performance in the paint scoring nearly 60 down low.

Rebound, rebound, rebound: Jazz were +17, Suns looked flat footed most of the night.

Defend the 3: Well the Jazz couldn't do everything right. I thought the Jazz did a good job defending the paint which may have had something to do with 30 3PA's for the Suns in the game.

Take the ball inside: Again the Jazz had 58 points in the paint, +22.

As far as Deron having a huge advantage I was referring to the matchup. I thinks Williams' size and strength really give him an edge when playing Nash, on numerous plays Williams drove right past Nash for layups; Nash also isn't very quick defensively IMO. Happy Prole said Nash is a better PG and at being a pure passing PG you may be right (15 assists). However against Nash and the Suns, D-Will has always been able to get into the paint pretty much at will....that's where my claim for huge advantage comes in.

Boozer did an excellent job against Amare, and to think some Jazz fans wanted to trade Booz for STAT. Stoudemire looked soft, Boozer grabbed 20 rebounds and looked more like a post player than Amare.

AK had another solid game with 25 pts, 2 asts, 3 blks and a steal. He also got to the line 12 times and had only 1 foul (he was contesting shots all game)....If this guy is here to stay it will put the Jazz on another level. As for Memo he had a nice first quarter and played some pretty good defense but it was against a pretty soft Suns frontline.

*EDIT* PS: The Jazz are now 4th in the west, would have HCA if the playoffs started today and are starting to get some of their swagger back....Should be a good 2nd half of the season.

GO JAZZ!!

[outerspacefella]

Blazers lost to Hornets...

I wouldn't worry about us. Utah's clearly the better team and Portland is clearly not a playoff team IMO. I'd bet the house that I don't own that we (portland) fail in the second half with our injury riddled roster. No big man, no playoffs. I would willingly give Portland's seed to the Grizzlies right now, that's how sure I am we won't be there...

Portland is a very, very good team running thru killer injuries. Theyr'e trying really hard, playing good ball. Wait to watch them at full strenght again; will be scary.

[seejaydeja]

Portland lost, Chicago won, Jazz won.

Good night.

If there isn't a Matthews jersey already in the works, the Jazz better get their **** together and make one. This kid is an absolute joy to watch, I can't think of anything he DIDN'T do on the court last night. Goodbye CJ!!!!

[CareySkyScurry]

If there isn't a Matthews jersey already in the works, the Jazz better get their **** together and make one.

Fanzz at the Gateway in Salt Lake is selling them. T-shirts too

[seejaydeja]

If there isn't a Matthews jersey already in the works, the Jazz better get their **** together and make one.

Fanzz at the Gateway in Salt Lake is selling them. T-shirts too

thanks for the heads up, i'll have to cop one before the lakers game in february

[hoops4life]

That commercial has seriously creepy undertones and I can't tell if it's on purpose or not.

I thought it was just me. The guy in the commercial really creeps me out. He seems like a stalker.

[DelaneyRudd]

I have never seen a girl like Denise at Taco Bell. I don't even think I've seen a 16 year old girl who will ever look like Denise at Taco Bell.