We could be Northwest Division Leaders when you read this, depending on when you stop by.
The Portland Trailblazers may have to revert to old school tactics t to stop Andrei Kirilenko. He is playing out of his mind. I would have to say it is a combination of more minutes and the realization that either he doesn’t have to be the man or is not the man on the Utah Jazz. Either way I am happy for him and the team.
Winning also helps, but he is one of the main reason that we are winning. He probably won’t have near the stat line tonight that he did against GS. The Trailblazers play at the slowest tempo in the league and we won’t have near as many possessions.
The Utah Jazz are going for the Jugular tonight, a Freaking Sweep against the Portland Trailblazers and even more important sweeping a four game road trip. I honestly thought that the Lakers game last week would play with their minds and have been waiting for them to hit “that stretch” that they hit every year. If you are any of the other Western Conference teams are you not a little bit scared by the way the Utah Jazz are playing especially on the road. It’s like when Wesley in Princess Bride says “ I am not left handed”, or when Ace Ventura realizes that Einhorn is a Man.
Deron Williams has lit up the Trailblazers this year so far averaging 20.3 and 11.7 I don’t think that that will change tonight especially after his poor shooting performance against GS. It will be interesting to see how he comes back from that. Then again the game is ESPN and we know that Deron plays possessed on National Television. The game will be a late game on ESPN 8:30 MTN Time and we will probably run the Podcast at Halftime .
Brandon Roy is listed as day-to-day but will probably be playing tonight but not at 100%. He only played nine minutes against the Celtics the other night when the Blazers got crushed scoring a season low 76 points and franchise low 7 assists. A lot of that was due to the Celtics Defense and the other part was trying to implement Roy and newly added Marcus Camby into the Mix.
As a team the Utah Jazz are averaging 110 points and shooting over 60% in the first three games this season. First team to score 90 points wins in my opinion.
Stat Break Down
| Jazz | Key Team Stats | Trail Blazers |
 102.1 |
Points scored |  97.3 |
| 97.2 |
Points allowed | 95.2 |
| .492 |
FG% own | .462 |
| .446 |
FG% opposition | .463 |
| .350 |
3PT% own | .353 |
| .353 |
3PT% opposition | .348 |
| 533 |
Offensive Rebounds | 609 |
| 1675 |
Defensive Rebounds | 1671 |
| 2208 |
Total Rebounds | 2280 |
| 1.8 |
Assist/Turnover Ratio | 1.7 |
| 21.9 |
Fouls Per Game | 21.2 |
| Scoring Stats | Jazz | Trail Blazers | ||
| Stat | Rk | Stat | Rk | |
| Winning % | .642 | 7 | .571 | 12 |
| Points Per Game | 102.2 | 7 | 97.7 | 22 |
| Points Allowed Per Game | 97.3 | 12 | 95.1 | 4 |
| Points Off Turnovers Per Game | 18.4 | 3 | 15.8 | 18 |
| Points Allowed Off Turnovers Per Game | 17.0 | 21 | 15.1 | 5 |
| Field Goals Attempted | 4161 | 27 | 4353 | 16 |
| Opposition Field Goals Attempted | 4162 | 5 | 4361 | 13 |
| Field Goals Made | 2052 | 10 | 2020 | 13 |
| Opposition Field Goals Made | 1863 | 6 | 2016 | 16 |
| Field Goal % | .493 | 1 | .464 | 11 |
| Opposition Field Goal % | .448 | 8 | .462 | 17 |
| Free Throws Attempted | 1433 | 5 | 1372 | 10 |
| Opposition Free Throws Attempted | 1442 | 25 | 1299 | 15 |
| Free Throws Made | 1066 | 8 | 1081 | 5 |
| Opposition Free Throws Made | 1085 | 22 | 967 | 14 |
| Free Throw % | .744 | 19 | .788 | 3 |
| Opposition Free Throw % | .752 | 12 | .744 | 4 |
| Defensive Stats | Jazz | Trail Blazers | ||
| Stat | Rk | Stat | Rk | |
| Total Rebounds Per Game | 40.8 | 23 | 40.1 | 27 |
| Opposition Total Rebounds Per Game | 39.0 | 3 | 38.0 | 1 |
| Offensive Rebounds Per Game | 9.8 | 25 | 10.7 | 17 |
| Opposition Offensive Rebounds Per Game | 10.3 | 8 | 10.1 | 6 |
| Defensive Rebounds Per Game | 31.0 | 11 | 29.4 | 27 |
| Opposition Defensive Rebounds Per Game | 28.7 | 4 | 27.9 | 1 |
| Team Rebounds Per Game | 8.9 | 6 | 8.1 | 21 |
| Opposition Team Rebounds Per Game | 8.2 | 10 | 8.5 | 18 |
| Steals Per Game | 8.0 | 5 | 6.0 | 28 |
| Opposition Steals Per Game | 7.8 | 23 | 6.2 | 2 |
| Blocked Shots Per Game | 5.0 | 12 | 3.9 | 26 |
| Opposition Blocked Shots Per Game | 5.1 | 18 | 3.9 | 2 |
| Assists & Turnovers Stats | Jazz | Trail Blazers | ||
| Stat | Rk | Stat | Rk | |
| Assists Per Game | 26.2 | 1 | 20.5 | 17 |
| Opposition Assists Per Game | 19.4 | 7 | 19.5 | 8 |
| Turnovers Per Game | 14.6 | 23 | 12.1 | 2 |
| Opposition Turnovers Per Game | 14.5 | 7 | 12.3 | 25 |
| Team Turnovers Per Game | 0.7 | 13 | 0.8 | 18 |
| Opposition Team Turnovers Per Game | 0.8 | 3 | 0.6 | 17 |
| Fouls & Penalties Stats | Jazz | Trail Blazers | ||
| Stat | Rk | Stat | Rk | |
| Personal Fouls Per Game | 21 | 23 | 21 | 19 |
| Opposition Personal Fouls Per Game | 22.3 | 4 | 21.5 | 11 |
| Disqualifications (Fouled Out) | 9 | 22 | 7 | 16 |
| Opposition Disqualifications (Fouled Out) | 10 | 4 | 13 | 2 |
| Player Technical Fouls | 9 | 8 | 13 | 16 |
| Opposition Player Technical Fouls | 11 | 24 | 19 | 8 |
| Team Technical Fouls | 10 | 2 | 26 | 22 |
| Opposition Team Technical Fouls | 16 | 23 | 19 | 17 |
| Coach Technical Fouls | 2 | 10 | 2 | 10 |
| Opposition Coach Technical Fouls | 0 | 29 | 3 | 11 |
| Bench Technical Fouls | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Opposition Bench Technical Fouls | 0 | 12 | 0 | 12 |
| Flagrant Fouls | 0 | 1 | 3 | 24 |
| Opposition Flagrant Fouls | 1 | 13 | 4 | 2 |
| Player Ejections | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Opposition Player Ejections | 1 | 4 | 0 | 13 |
| Coach Ejections | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Opposition Coach Ejections | 0 | 7 | 0 | 7 |
I would think that Camby may cause a few problems Defensively, but after watching the small ball the other night against GS, I love it. IT will usually cause match-up problems for the other team more than it will for us unless we are playing the Lakers or Nuggets who can go big against our small and then we are in trouble. The Trailblazers can’t go big, at least with their current injury situation.
It is really hard to bet or pick against the Utah Jazz right now the only other team that you don’t want to pick against is the TTTSNBN.
Prediction-
Deron Goes Off 25-12
Millsap and Ak have good games
Bench player of the night will be Price.
Jazz Win 101-93.
On a side note, the Knicks have lost 6 in a row and are 1-9 in their last ten.
Denver, Watch-out you have two teams that are closer than they appear.
