UTAH JAZZ (22-11) vs. MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES (14-18) Game #34 • Home Game #18 • EnergySolutions Arena • SALT LAKE CITY January 1, 2011 • 7 p.m. (MT) • TV: FSN Utah RADIO: 1320 AM KFNZ/B98.7 FM and 1600 AM ESPN DEPORTE Injury Report
Injury Report
UTAH
Andrei Kirilenko – GAMETIME DECISION (lower back strain)
C.J. Miles – GAMETIME DECISION (flu)
Mehmet Okur – TO BE DETERMINED (lower back strain
MEMPHIS
Rudy Gay Stomach Virus via @JonRinehart Twitter (Jazz PR Guy)
Xavier Henry (sore right knee) is day-to-day
Previous Game
The Utah Jazz won 94-85 on Dec 6th, CJ had 20 off the bench. . The Utah Jazz lead the all time series 43-14 and have won 7 in a row @ the ESA.
Mathup of the Night
There are two matchups to watch tonight and for different reasons.
Deron Vs Conley, I am interested to see how Deron reacts after his recent comments in the Trib about how the team is not as good as their record would say they are. I am also interested to see how Conley responds after "hitting" the potential game winner, until Tyreke Evans did his thing.
Gasol Vs Jefferson. I really like the way Gasol plays and think that he is much tougher/meaner than his brother. Memphis leads the league in points in the paint (47.8), which is an area that the Jazz have struggled at times at this season. Jefferson needs to match Gasol's toughness and rebound something fierce tonight.
Our Thoughts
Kalun- The Utah Jazz should dominate from start to finish. Millsap goes of for 25 and 12.
Scotty- The Jazz have to learn their lesson tonight, don't get behind. Look for some of the players that have been inactive if they play tonight to come back gangbusters. Cj Ak Memo.
Jimmy- If this is not a double digit win....then there is something wrong with the us. If you didn't read Deron's thoughts from the trib this thought goes right along with what Deron said. Here is the link.
Predictions
Utah Jazz 109 Memphis 94
You have something different? Let Us Know.
#5 Goodbye Boozer hello Jefferson. For about three days in the middle of the July KOC was watching his back then the Jazz pulled this.
#4 Utah Beats The Nuggets in the first round of the playoffs
#2 "The Road Trip" Millsap's 46 and the Miracle in Miami which in every way possible was a miracle.
#1 January 15th, 2010 Sundiata Gaines out shined Lebron James with this. Still getting goosebumps.
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I have to give the Blazers and coach McMillan credit for how they played the Jazz, at least for this week. I like McMillan. I think he is partially made from the Jerry Sloan cloth.
QUOTABLE: "I'm motivated to go up against anybody. (Facing) Utah is an added bonus, but there's no bad blood there. Everybody wants to play good against his former team."
- Matthews, after equalling his career high with 30 points against the team for which he played last season.
Wesley Matthews played probably the best that we have seen over the past year and a half. He not only had 30 points on 16 shots but added three rebounds three assists, and four steals. There was some dissension on the twitter roll last night about the situation on how and why Matthews ended up in Portland. I don't know every detail but the best timeline of the entire situation is Ross Siler's (former beat writer for the Utah Jazz) Twitter timeline which is here. Like he said this morning for theTweet of the Night 
Marcus Camby
I know Marcus Camby is not worth nine Million dollars a year for his offense, but his rebounding and defense is another story. He finished with 20 boards, five assists, two steals, and two blocks. He also alters 3-5 shots on any given night. He reminds a lot of Dennis Rodman, "I don't need to score, just give me the freaking rebound". We need a guy like that.
57 Fouls in one Game.
The NBA tries very hard to have a unifying goals/rules when it comes to officiating. Sometimes it doesn't crossover to the game very well. The goal is to have a foul called the same way on the same night anywhere in the NBA to make the game "fair". Last night this did not happen. There were a total of 55 fouls calls and two techs. Divide that by 48 minutes and you get a 1.18 fouls per minute during the game. Which means that on average the clock was stopped every other possession last night on a foul call. The calls were going against both teams and were horrible for both teams. Just saying the pace was so freaking slow not only because of the Blazers, but because of the refs. I know there are grind it out nights in the NBA but last night was not "fair" to either team.
Deron Williams.
In the Month of December Deron Williams is averaging only 8.7 assists per game.He only has one double digit assist game in the past five(Cleveland 10). His points are @ 23. I think part of this is due to all of the switching around and partly because, well, we are playing very inconsistent.
Gordon Hayward- He is finding a way to get to the free throw line 4-6 last night. Aggression towards going to the hole. I am glad that he is learning this skill much easier than Cj Miles. I think this skill alone, if he can keep it up, will get him playing time.
Paul Millsap- in 2008 he went on a streak of 19 straight double-doubles. He had 5 rebounds last night, mostly because Camby was eating everything that even looked like glass, and partially because I think he is tired/injured. I have no factual back up for this theory other than the numbers this year. He is averaging 7.9 rebounds a game which is nowhere near enough for his position and the amount of playing time he gets. I somehow thought that his numbers would increase this year and so far they have not.
Stat of the Night-
18 turnovers by the Utah Jazz- Have to the Blazers credit here.
Highlight of the Night
Pretty Obvious Here
Jerry Sloan's thoughts (Video) courtesy of the Trib.
Bust-a-Bucket's Thoughts
Deron Wiliams hits a 45 footer between a double team at the end of the first quarter on 12-30-10
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Seriously, where has Gordon been? Why did it take this long for him to "break out?" Was last night a fluke or can he perform like that every night?
Sitting in the ESA waiting for the Jazz to announce who they were going to take with the 9th pick in the draft was both exciting and terrifying. With a great, educated choice, they could change the franchise for years to come; with the wrong choice, they could nudge the Jazz into a world of losses and problems.
If your first game watching the Jazz this season was last night, then you would probably think the Jazz made the correct pick. However, if you have watched ANY games at all this year, then you know that what you saw last night has never happened before (except for the preseason Laker win...which was PRE-season).
I really, really wish that I had all the answers to the Gordon Hayward question. Like, why does it take so long for him to get a shot off? and why doesn't he tan? and why in the world would you make that rap song...and then tell people about it? I also really wish that I could come out and say that I believe the Jazz made the correct choice with their 9th pick...but, I also really wish that I had season tickets...and I could play basketball half as good as Gordon...and that it would never snow in Utah again.
Some other thoughts from the Utah Jazz Text Round Table.
Jimmy- Its all up to Hayward, He plays good we win. All in All I have a good feeling about tonight.
Brenden- Not worried at all, Jazz are a road team.
Spencer- Jazz squeak it out 89-87 on a last possession game.
Chun- I like our chances. Back end of a back to back and we're playing away. It doesn't matter that they beat us three nights ago. The Jazz win tonight.
Scotty- Win
"Tonight, it was Al Jefferson who went to work on us. He made some tough shots, but we had some opportunities."
-- Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro.
Al Jefferson going to work on the Clippers, is an understatement, Jefferson owned the second half, with 20 points and ten rebounds for a season high 31 points. Jefferson was making shots from all over the floor and the wheezy was falling like butter. He was hitting jumpshots, hooks, pretty much anything that he put up was going in.
Mehmet Okur kept the Utah Jazz alive in the first half with some very timely buckets and rebounds. The bench put up 25 points last night with Memo leading the way(13).
The Comeback
The Utah Jazz started the second half on a 14-2 run and outscored the Clippers 30-13 in the quarter. The Jazz outscored the Clippers 88-45 in the season series, which is over because of the odd number of teams in the west. Half of the all of the Jazz wins this year have come when we have been down by double digits. It is hard to argue with 50%.
Here are Jerry Sloan's thoughts from last night courtesy of the Trib's Brian T. Smith . Note to Jazz fans do not turn off your T.V. ever, you should have learned this already but just a reminder.
Gordon Hayward or @gordonhayward via Twitter
Over reaction would probably be a good thing here but Kevin O'Connor was smiling somewhere last night giving all the doubtful Utah Jazz fans a little middle finger, myself included. Is it to early to say that this pick wasn't a bust, yes. It is to early to crown Hayward the starter in place of AK/CJ for the next little while, yes. However, it was a small sign of things to come and here is the video.
Tweet of the night
Courtesy of @allthatamar. 
Other Utah Jazz Finds
This one courtesy of SLCDUNK
This is from the game winner in Charlotte.
Utah Jazz T.V. Ratings are out of this world literally.
From Yahoo.
Clipper Blog
Clipper Nation
Breaking News--- Cj Miles is a game time decision.
UTAH JAZZ (21-10) at LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS (10-22) Game #32 • Away Game #15 • STAPLES Center • LOS ANGELES December 29, 2010 • 8:30 p.m. (MT) • TV: FSN Utah & NBATV RADIO: 1320 AM KFNZ/B98.7 FM and 1600 AM ESPN DEPORTE
Injury report
Utah Jazz -
Andrei Kirilenko - DOUBTFUL (lower back strain) We will talk about this a little later.
L.A. Clippers-
OUT: Chris Kaman (Aggravated bone bruise and deltoid ligament sprain of left ankle;
Craig Smith (Herniated disc)DOUBTFUL:
Brian Cook (Sprained right ankle)
Previous Games
The Utah Jazz are looking to sweep the 3 game for the 2010-2011 series. The Jazz won the first contest 109-107 (OT) on Nov 6th and the second meeting on Nov. 28th 109-97.
Match up of the Night
Blake Griffin Against the World.
Utah Jazz fan here talking about how much fun this kid is to watch. He will get his 20th DD in a row tonight, especially cause the Utah Jazz are struggling to rebound the basketball. The questions is whether or not the Utah Jazz can stop him from getting a 20-20 game. Seriously though He may out rebound both Millsap and Jefferson. I think Millsap will recover from his 3 rebound performance against the Trailblazers, but him and Jefferson have to figure something out.
My Thoughts-
Black Griiffin
The Clippers have won 5-6 of six and Griffin is playing out of this world with 19 straight DD's, he leads the league in dunks, and he goes to the line fifth most in the NBA.
Free Throws
In fact, the Clippers have two of the top ten players with the most FTA on the year, Griffin @5th and Gordon @8th they account for 58% of the Clippers total free throws.
This causes problems for the Utah Jazz. We foul a lot and in turn it slows down the pace and rhythm of the game.
AK
This looks like it could be the time of year when AK's back goes out. This causes some major problems for the Jazz rotation, and the how Jerry Sloan uses the bench. Generally when a player is going to be out for a couple of games,Jerry will just pull some one not in the rotation in that players spot. Example, earlier this year when Bell was out and Gordon Hayward got the start. What if this is more than a couple of games though and you have to put CJ as a starter screwing up both the starting five and the second unit when they come in. It is bad enough that they are adjusting to Memo coming back, this will just compound the problem.
This will also lead to more minutes for Gordon Hayward, so instead of maybe 12 minutes which he has gotten the past few games he may move all the way up to 18-20 minutes a night. I don't necessarily think that this is a bad thing, I just think that this is not a good situation for a team that is trying to find some sort of consistency. A positive from this is we will get to see more Hayward and possibly more Evans.
The century mark again.
The Clippers are 1-15 when allowing 100 point and the Utah Jazz are 16-1 when scoring 100 points. If we score 100 point we win.
My Prediction
Jazz 94 Clippers 91
You have probably seen this before but Deron and Baron are good friends this is something that they did a few years back
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