Jazz look to ground Rockets tonight!

  The Utah Jazz come in to tonight's game feeling good after securing their first road win of the season.  Time to temper your excitement, the Houston Rockets are in town and they are riding a 6 game winning streak!  The Rockets are hot and will be a difficult match-up for the Jazz.  The Rockets come in averaging 111.6 pts a game, 51.2% from the field and 44.1% from three, with a league leading True Shooting percentage of 59.4%.  This will be a huge test for the Jazz team defense and defensive rebounding, as the Rockets are 2nd in the league in offensive rebounding.  Lets take a look at tonight's match-up....


Defensively- Number one, is going to be the defensive glass.  This is not something that should be left to the Jazz bigs.  This will need to be a team effort.  Trey Burke has been really good on the boards, considering size and position.  Again, goes to show rebounding is about effort.  If the Jazz are getting beat on the boards early, it could be a long night. If you look at Houston's road shot chart, http://stats.nba.com/teamStats.html?TeamID=1610612745&SeasonType=Regular%20Season, they shoot two shots, the 3 or in the paint.  This team does not take any long twos, and they don't take that many corner threes. They actually have more makes from the 3 from the wings and the top of the key than they do attempts on the corner 3.  The Jazz wings must run the Rockets shooters off the 3 point line and the big's will need to stay home and clog the lane.  Easier said than done....The majority of Houston's offense comes out of the draw and kick.  They will run some pick and roll with Harden and Howard.  The Jazz bigs don't need to worry about the pick an pop game with Houston as they don't really have player that is capable or consistent enough to cause problems.  Houston is full of shooters, this one will be tough for the Jazz, although the first match-up of the season the Jazz dominated the first half and were right there in the 3rd quarter, Jazz will be looking for redemption.

Offensively- Trey Burke is really emerging as a leader and good point guard on this Jazz team.  I think the offense will go as Trey goes.  He has been playing really well the last 3 games.  He is not afraid of the big moment and is showing some toughness that the Jazz had been lacking.  I also feel that the offense is transitioning a bit with the bigs getting more post-ups and shots in the paint.  This could be do to the fact that Hayward is still struggling mightily with his shot.  I think this is a good strategy for now and the future.  Teams have to double Favors and Kanter and that is creating open shots for Marvin, Jefferson and Hayward.  Houston will be a little different as they can match-up Howard with Favors/Kanter.  Houston has been starting Terrence Jones at the power forward, so the Jazz could have an advantage there if the run 2 bigs.  Also Marvin is quicker than Jones and should be able to get to the basket.  Against Phoenix, I felt Ty did a great job with his rotations and situationals.  There will need to be more of that tonight from the staff.

  Jazz will need to win the 3 critical categories (free-throws, rebounds, turnovers) if they want to give themselves a shot at their first 2 game winning streak.  Effort and toughness are a must for tonight.  Bring it.....GO JAZZ!

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Ready for blast off, Jazz take on Rockets Tonight!

 The Utah Jazz tip off tonight at 7:00 pm versus the Houston Rockets.  The Jazz are coming of a second hard fought loss the previous night to the Phoenix Suns in Phoenix.  This is going to be every bit as big a test for the Jazz as was the Oklahoma City Thunder game.  I would have to put Houston in my top three teams in the west with the likes of OKC and the Clippers.  I think people feel that they need to gel first to get that lofty position, but the type of basketball that they play is one that does not take much time for that.  They play a lot of pick and roll, push the tempo and drive and kick basketball.  Not exactly execution heavy basket ball.  Lets take a look at the keys for tonight's game.....

Defensively-The Jazz will see two things in heavy doses, pick and roll with Harden/Lin and Howard and drive and kick.  For the Jazz to be successful against this type of offense, the rotations on the perimeter will need to be spot on.  Look for Kanter, Favors and Gobert to close the lane hard thus creating the need for the "help the helper" situation.  Currently the Rockets lead the league in NETRTG at 13.8 and an EFG% of 53.7%  The Jazz will have to be monsters on the boards again tonight.  As Houston is ranked first in rebounding and the Jazz second.  The Jazz will need Gordon to crash the boards as effectively as he did last night versus the Suns.  This should make for an interesting match-up as Hayward and Jefferson will be matched up with the likes of James Harden and Chandler Parson.  Both good 3pt shooters and Parson is a very good rebounder from the small forward position.  Houston is averaging 27 3 point attempts a game and shooting it at 37%.

Offensively-The Jazz will need to have the same first half performance they got from Gordon for the entire 48.  He can not disappear in the second half like he did in Phoenix.  Look for Gordon to continue to attack the basket and create for teammates.  Tonight is the kind of night that Jazz need the likes of a Richard Jefferson, John Lucas III or Ian Clarke to get hot from the outside.  Houston has the likes of Dwight Howard and Omer Asik down low, that will make it tough for any of the Jazz wing to be effective in the paint.  Look for Burks to take it at Houston's bigs as he seems to be the only player on the roster right now, fearless enough to go strong.  Hopefully it will play in the Jazz favor and get Howard and Asik in some foul trouble.  Favors and Kanter are going to have the toughest test they have had early in this season.  Kanter will need to be very effective with his pump fakes and pick and pop game.  I would like to see Favors go to work early in the post.  Don't wait, when he catches the ball in the post, make a move right away going to the basket.  He has been very effective when doing so and does not give the defense time to set up of double.

Secondary Stats-Really need to be primary stats tonight.  The Jazz can not turn the ball over the way they have in the first 2 games.  Luckily for the Jazz, Houston has been equally terrible in that department with 21 TO a game.  Secondly the Jazz have to be better on the free-throw line.  They are shooting 64.9% from the line.  They need to been in the 75%  range minimum to take advantage of the number of times that they get to the line.  Also the Jazz had just one block shot last night against the Suns and that came from Ian Clarke!  I think they really had 2 but they did not give Gordon the block on the PJ Tucker dunk attempt last night.  Kanter, Favors, Gobert all need to be more active at the rim tonight.  The Jazz will need to be equally effective at moving the ball as a team and pilling up assists.  As a team the Jazz are averaging just under 23 assists.

  Should be a good test for this young Jazz squad that has battled hard the first two games of the season and been right there at the end.  I think that is exactly what the front office and Jazz fans really like to see as this team develops.  GO Jazz!