Speaking of Jerry. He is a throwback. A hard-nosed ex-player coach. A former Chicago Bull from the Van-Arsdale twins era of NBA basketball. He is a tough old bugger and perhaps the NBAs leading proponent of good old fashioned pick and roll, pick and pop basketball. He doesn't do anything fancy. Just the same old stuff over and over and over again. He is a master at getting his team to execute these simple plays to perfection. And he is also a master in the art of game adjustments. Before we hired Nate I really wanted our team to go after Jerry Sloan. He may be the best coach in the league. Sorry Phil, you had MJ and Pippen, and Kobe and Shaq. Yes, Jerry did have Malone and Stockton, but not much else. And I question whether their careers would have been the same if they had played for a different coach. Jerry Sloan has done more with less than any coach in this league.
I see this as a winnable game for our team. I'm not saying we will win. But I do see that the opportunity is there. I'm thinking Nate does too, and perhaps that may be a reason for his preseason strategy. Nonetheless, we'll have a chance to be rested and get a few days practice in before we head off to Salt Lake for this game. Clearly our team is still working on getting everyone on the same page offensively and defensively. Here is a chance for us to gather ourselves together and get focused and pick up a road win against the Jazz.
It won't be easy. It never is against Utah. Here is a look at their starting lineup
Utah Jazz Starting Lineup
PG Deron Williams
SG Ronnie Brewer
SF Andrei Kirilenko
PF Carlos Boozer
C Mehmet Okur
Wednesday nights game is said to be the night all star guard Deron Williams will return to the starting lineup for the Utah Jazz. Once again Steve Blake will have his hands full matching up with a player that most pundits rate next to Chris Paul as among the best point guards in the league. Blake is clearly overmatched here, but if he can distribute the ball well and hit the spot up jumper and a three here and there that might be enough to put our team in a position to win the game. However Williams is clearly the better player. Advantage-Jazz
Son of former Trailblazer Jim Brewer, Ronnie Brewer starts at the big guard or shooting guard position for the Jazz. Ronnie is simply not the player Brandon Roy is. The Jazz like to slow things down and make it a half court game. If they do, they'll be playing the game that favors our own all star Brandon Roy. Not only is Roy better than Ronnie Brewer so is Rudy Fernandez who is coming off a 20 point performance against the Suns. Advantage-Blazers.
Andrei Kirilenko, or AK-47 starts at the small forward position for the Jazz. A seasoned veteran who spent the summer playing in the Olympics, he just may be able to have his way against Travis Outlaw. If Outlaw struggles, or gets moved to power forward in this game Nic Batum might see a few more minutes. Batums length and quickness might just cause some problems for Kirilenko. Advantage-Jazz
At power forward is the venerable Carlos Boozer, fresh off his performance on our Gold Medal winning Olympic team. Boozer is a two time NBA allstar and capable of producing a double double on most nights while playing the solid team defense Jerry Sloan demands. LaMarcus will have his hands full guarding Boozer, and he’d better bring his A game to the table if we expect to win this game. Slight advantage Jazz
Mehmet Okur starts at center for Utah. Okur, who is from Turkey has been a reliable and versatile player for the Jazz. He is an excellent 3 point shooter and plays very well in Jerry Sloans system as either a center or power forward. Joel Pryzbilla can handle Okur, and if Channing Frye keeps draining his shots from outside this might be a position where we could gain an advantage. Even or slight advantage Blazers.
Off the bench Utah brings rookie center Kosta Koufos, the freshman center from Ohio State.Veterans Kyle Korver, Matt Harpring and Paul Milsap comprise the rest of the squad that Sloan will call upon to spell his starters. Looking down our bench at Batum, Fernandez, Frye, Rodriguez, and Bayless I see a bit more potential.
Although I see a definite possibility for the Blazers to steal a game in Salt Lake this time around everything has to go right for us to do so. We have to play smart and scrappy the entire game. Because we can count on Utah to do exactly that. And if we don’t match their toughness we can chalk this one up as a loss. I see us having a good first half, but in the end losing the game in the second half like we did in Phoenix. Jazz by 7.
Click on the link to see a preview of this seasons Utah Jazz
http://www.nba.com/video/channels/nba_t ... r=whatsnew
UPDATE:
Nic Batum will replace Trout as starter at the SF position
