[Austin Kent]

vs.

Utah Jazz (3-0) vs. Detroit Pistons (2-1)

Monday, November 6, 2006
Delta Center
9:00

Probable Starters:

Carlos Boozer l Andrei Kirilenko l Matt Harpring l Gordon Giricek l Deron Williams


Nazr Mohammed l Rasheed Wallace l Tayshaun Prince l Richard Hamilton l Chauncey Billups

Pistons Roster
Jazz Roster

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[Goubot]

Is Okur out or something?

Anyway, Utah's gonna be a test of interior defense, since Boozer is a fairly strong inside presence. Kirilenko is a stat machine, but he has trouble creating for himself and hasn't been a particularly dangerous range shooter. Deron Williams hasn't been shooting the three very well so far, but he can still be fairly dangerous. Okur's going to have to be guarded in some way, he's just too good a shooter.

The key to us winning is rebounds, this team's frontcourt is great at snatching rebounds, especially on the offensive end. However, they still foul like mad (it's a Jerry Sloan team, after all), so hopefully we can get to the line for some easy points. They're also a tunrover prone team, but we're not great at forcing turnovers. Utah strikes me as more dangerous than most people are giving them credit for, and everyone is healthy right now. I think we could easily lose this one.

[unluckyseventeen]

The Delta Center will be rockin for this one.

By the way, the starters will be (unless they change it from now until tomorrow):

Deron Williams, CJ Miles, Andrei Kirilenko, Carlos Boozer, Mehmer Okur



I really don't know who will win this game. I've said that about 2/3 of our games this year, since we played good teams... I guess it's just too early to tell the complexion of either team.

Either team could win by 10+... it could be close. I just don't know. That's why they play the games!

I'm looking forward to a great game on Monday. It could be one of our biggest crowds in years.

[AK-47]

Good luck guys! Should be a good game. We match up well against you guys for some reason. We have pretty much modeled our rebuilding after the pistons. Not a bunch of a super stars, just enough good players to get it done.

[Goubot]

Well, you're both Utah fans, so lemme ask something. Was I right in pinpointing team strengths (rebounding, killer frontcourt) and weaknesses (turnovers and fouls) so far? I don't get to see them much, but I think Utah's being slept on a bit, and I could easily see them overtaking Denver for the Northwest, although that's close.

CJ Miles should help you out, I saw him play a few times and he's pretty talented, he can create his own shot, didn't have too many turnovers as a rookie, and even rebounded pretty well for his size (dunno if all that applies this year, haven't been paying close attention to him). His shooting was off, but he still has good potential, it's nice to see him in a starting role.

I'll also be rooting for Millsap when he's not playing against us, he had like 5 offensive rebounds, 2 blocks, and a steal in 14 minutes in that one game in the preseason against us, which blew me away.

[AK-47]

Originally Posted by Goubot

Well, you're both Utah fans, so lemme ask something. Was I right in pinpointing team strengths (rebounding, killer frontcourt) and weaknesses (turnovers and fouls) so far? I don't get to see them much, but I think Utah's being slept on a bit, and I could easily see them overtaking Denver for the Northwest, although that's close.

CJ Miles should help you out, I saw him play a few times and he's pretty talented, he can create his own shot, didn't have too many turnovers as a rookie, and even rebounded pretty well for his size (dunno if all that applies this year, haven't been paying close attention to him). His shooting was off, but he still has good potential, it's nice to see him in a starting role.

I'll also be rooting for Millsap when he's not playing against us, he had like 5 offensive rebounds, 2 blocks, and a steal in 14 minutes in that one game in the preseason against us, which blew me away.

Yes, you are correct. They need to work on the T/Os and fouls, but they are the best rebounding team in the league right now and in all of preseason. They do have a killer starting frontcourt that got 51 points and 37 rebounds agains the suns.

And yes millsap was very good in the preseason and our team is so deep with boozer playing well, Millsap hasn't seen any minutes. Millsap was ranked #6 in rookies after the preseason.

CJ Miles has suprised me the most. He is the 2nd youngest player in the league and is starting for the jazz way earlier than I saw him doing.

How have the pistons being doing without big ben? Has Nazr helped fill the spot that much?

[Goubot]

I think other than the opener, which was pretty much a nightmare (we allowed 70 points in the paint, that's basically all you need to know), we're doing alright without Ben. The opener was a huge fluke, we usually don't turn the ball over nearly that much. We've had the bad habit of only turning up the heat in the second half, and even then our focus has come and gone. If Utah happens to catch us when we're careless (it would probably be in the first half), we could find ourselves in a hole that would be tough to dig ourselves out of.

Nazr has filled in fairly well. He's offensively capable and rebounds well, especially on the offensive end. He fouls a lot more than Ben did, which means that his playing time is erratic from night to night. He scored 10? in the first quarter against Memphis the other day, though, and Wallace could take 2-3 games to score that much. He's not a replacement for Wallace, but we're not bad off for having him.

[JoeD]

I like Utah and hope they go far this season. That said, I hope we crush them. It'd be a good sign for the new team. It'd show what we could do against the most dominant team for the early season and it would be good for the new team to do well where the old team sucked.

[unluckyseventeen]

Originally Posted by Goubot

I think other than the opener, which was pretty much a nightmare (we allowed 70 points in the paint, that's basically all you need to know), we're doing alright without Ben. The opener was a huge fluke, we usually don't turn the ball over nearly that much. We've had the bad habit of only turning up the heat in the second half, and even then our focus has come and gone. If Utah happens to catch us when we're careless (it would probably be in the first half), we could find ourselves in a hole that would be tough to dig ourselves out of.

Nazr has filled in fairly well. He's offensively capable and rebounds well, especially on the offensive end. He fouls a lot more than Ben did, which means that his playing time is erratic from night to night. He scored 10? in the first quarter against Memphis the other day, though, and Wallace could take 2-3 games to score that much. He's not a replacement for Wallace, but we're not bad off for having him.

Speaking of lapses, you guys might want to watch yourselves in the 1st. The Jazz are outscoring their opponents by an average of 9 PPG in the 1st quarter alone this season. That usually spells their pace on their way to winning the game.

That said, I think the Jazz's depth is going to cause you guys some problems, especially if Rip and Chauncey are not playing defense like they are capable of on Monday night. This offense drains our opponents because it's so movement oriented, and the Jazz are deep 2 players on the PG, SG and SF positions.

I think this game will come down to which team can be the better defensive team. Both offenses can hit a groove and go off for a lot of points, and both seem to be somewhat erratic on the defensive end.

It will be a great game.

I also predict Okur to give you guys fits when the Jazz have the ball.

[Goubot]

This is the beginning of a four game western conference roadtrip. We're not playing any contenders, but 3 of them are solid teams who could give us problems. Utah has always played well against us, Sacramento is struggling badly right now and we can probably beat them, LA is still getting used to Kobe coming back but they could be dangerous, and we should win against Golden State, which is in a state of flux right now since Nelson's initial plan isn't working out. Winning three of these isn't too much to ask, but it could be rough.

[JoeD]

Why did Sheed go to the locker room so early? Anyone see a clue as to why?

[JoeD]

It makes me sick how this is a game with a lot of jostles and hard play and we are getting ticky tack fouls.

This is going to be a good finish. We have no reason to worry about Rasheed, he's playing as good as anyone hoped for. Maxiell was almost very good but made a few defensive mistakes and missed a easy dunk which would have been key.

[JoeD]

Bad travel call on Rasheed. Man we got jobbed out of tying the game there.

[JoeD]

Another offensive foul as we try and pull ahead....