The hustling, scrappy basketballs to the wall KIngs with Kevin Martin scoring 30 or the what do we do, hope we can score, look at Tyreke go, where is JT, where is KMart Kings?
How about some early Brett Favre retirement talk? (he will, no he changed his mind, he might change teams, should he have surgery?)

 Off topic? maybe. Wrong? No.

I think Utah remembered this when they decided to pick up Price…. if he can make Carlos Boozer look like Walt Williams in the low post then I assume he could smash Spencer.

I have to say that I really enjoyed following the game threads and post game thread of the Warriors game this week. Usually, I watch the games by myself at home, which is what I will be doing tonight. When a great play is made, a technical is called, or some statement is made by Jerry or Grant, it is interesting and yes, fun, to read others responses to it. I look forward to tonight’s game and all of your interesting blow-by-blow commentary.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcS0xyoQO3w

Deron Williams said he will not shave his beard until they win 5 in a row. Can anyone get in touch with the Kings to make sure that they know if they lose tonight, a beard dies? Sam Amick, are you reading this…? Can you relay the message? Due to the BYU Honor Code, Utah needs as many beards as it can get.

tough because D Williams is out, tough becasue many of the Kings have dissappeared one game and not another so far this year.

If they fight it out and shoot reasonably well across the board – I’m calling it a win.

Sloan doesn’t like his team allowing layups so they’ll foul a lot. Hopefully part of the gameplan will be to get Kevin to make some backdoor cuts inside and get fouled. If he can put up some points at the line it might build his confidence a little.

Broctor No?

Ernst Brofeld?

Brocktopussy?

“If I was them, I wouldn’t make a trade,” Boozer said. "But I’m not them. I think, I mean, you keep this group together. We’re getting healthy, guys are getting better, we’re rolling, we’ve won four out of our last five, which is great.

Then his stats, 19.4ppg, 10.8rpg, 3.4apg on .534 shooting, and you can see why the Jazz are in 4th place in the West. And, why Boozer may be changing his tune about wanting to leave.

It’s understandable why Boozer and the rest of the Jazz might be happy, with a record of 27 and 18, and a 6 game winning streak at home wouldn’t anyone. January has been very successful, with Utah going 9-4, on .502 FG%, .413 3P%, and scoring 106.9ppg. For the season Utah is 1st in Assists, 1st in FG%, 8th in Scoring and 9th in 3P%. That is one efficient and potent offensive machine. Defensively, they’re pretty good, ranked 8th in PPG Differential, 10th in lowest FG% allowed, 6th in fewest rebounds allowed, and 6th in steals. They are the 10th worst in turnovers which still puts them 6 slots better then the Kings, and they are 10th worst in blocks per game which again is 2 better than the Kings. But, they have held 10 of their last 12 opponents to under 100 pts. Which is why Utah moved past the Lakers and into 1st place in Hollinger’s’ NBA Power Rating.

Utah has gone to a somewhat smaller lineup. Fesenko has been out with a left ankle sprain, but is listed as probable of this game. So when Okur came out the Jazz have been going to Millsap who along with Boozer & Kirilenko made up the frontcourt. Which explains the poor rebounding, 41.3 rpg and 8.7 orb, most of them coming from Boozer 10.8rpg and Okur 6.8rpg. Koufos was shipped off to the D-League on Jan 25th, but was recalled yesterday even though he has only seen limited action in 10 games over the last 2 months. He’s had one game where he played more than 4 minutes, and has only score a total of 6pts and pulled down a total of 7 rebounds in all 10 games.

Besides the usual pieces of Williams, Brewer and Matthews, the Jazz got Kyle Korver back around the middle of December. In the last 10 games, Korver is shooting .622 field and .565 from 3pt range in 14mpg which probably explains the 6pt jump in PPG for January.

As for the Kings, JT and Kevin found themselves on the bench in the 4th quarter of the GS game, and Beno & Spence ended up being the go to guys when GS decided to shut down Tyreke. Which begs the question, who starts against Utah?

Okur is a tall but slow center who takes 65% of his shots away from the basket, which is just the type of center that Spencer is good at defending. With Fesenko returning to the line up, it will be interesting to see whom Westphal has guarding the 7’1" 300lb center. Whether it’s Boozer or Millsap starting at PF, JT has the size and quickness to defend them. In our last game, JT held Boozer to 16pts on 6 of 12 shooting, and had one block and one steal off Boozer. And, I like Donte again as the defensive stopper and weak side shot blocker, so I see him defending Kirilenko who’s had a modest comeback of late. Tyreke and Martin return as the starting backcourt. Martin is going to come out of his shooting slump sooner not later, so you go with him until it happens. And, with Williams out, Utah’s starting PG will be Price or the D-Leaguer Gaines. But, expect Brewer to defend Tyreke, especially if Martin isn’t hitting his shots early.

In our last meeting, November 7th in Utah, the Kings won 104 to 99, on outstanding shooting .493 fg% and .579 3p%. But it was our FT shooting 27-32, mostly on Tyreke’s 16 of 19, that gave us a 7pt margin for the win. It’s probably going to take a similar performance for the Kings to challenge in this game.

Boozer left the Portland game on Tuesday, 5 minutes into the 3rd quarter, with a right calf muscle strain, and never returned. He’s listed on the Injury Report as day to day. If he isn’t available for this game, Utah will be severely under sized and under manned in the frontcourt. And, since Deron Williams will miss the game to attend the funeral of his uncle in WV, Boozer might try to play even if he isn’t fully recovered.

Game Keys:

The match up of the game: Utah’s highly efficient offense against the Kings faltering offense and 4th quarter collapses. The Kings need to have one of their best offensive games. Move the ball and work for open uncontested shots. Accuracy more than quantity, but that means also limiting turnovers.

Offensive rebounding: With Okur playing away from the basket, Utah has no one over 6’9", so the Kings must dominate the defensive boards. Second chance points could be the deciding factor in this game.

Attack the rim: The Kings need to get to the FT line, so be aggressive. Kirilenko is probably the only shoot blocker to worry about. So, whomever he’s guarding needs to drag him away from the basket, and seal him off as often as possible.

Defend the 3pt shooter. Utah has some deadly accurate 3pt shooters. So, when Korver and Matthews are on the floor, Noc or Omri or whoever is guarding them needs to stick to them like glue, and let the help come from somewhere else. Okur puts up about three 3 pointers a game so, Spencer needs to play him tight also.

At home with a 6 game home winning streak, I like the Jazz by 10. But, if Utah has to play without Boozer and Williams then the Kings win BIG. But, even with Williams out if Boozer can play, the Kings need to improve their shooting percentage to have a chance of winning. Go Kings.

Jazz lose Williams, but rookie point guard Eric Maynor steps in and scores 40 points in a Jazz victory.

Except for they traded away the ruler of the universe (and only man who can stop the great Tyreke Evans) for nothing, and thus will face the consiquences, as Tyreke will once again own SLC and score a new career high of 37, sendingg the Kings off for another productive month.

The jazz are favored by 9
The over/under is at 203

Call your shot!

Lets Get Our 17th WIN

Last game against the Warriors I took some stats on shot attempts. Here’s how it broke down:
FG shots on 1-on-1 plays (non-assisted baskets) – 16/46 (34.8%). Tyreke: 6/18 (33%), Martin: 1/5 (20%), JT: 1/3 (33%), Casspi: 0/2, Nocioni: 1/4 (25%), Hawes: 0/1, Udrih: 6/10 (60%), Greene: 1/2 (50%), Udoka: 0/1
FG shots after a pass from the perimeter – 8/22 (36.4%). Tyreke: 2/4 (50%), Martin: 0/3, Casspi: 0/1, Nocioni: 3/8 (37.5%), Hawes: 2/2 (100%), Udrih: 1/3 (33%), Udoka: 0/1
FG shots after dribble penetration or a kick-out from the post – 8/15 (53.3%). JT: 1/2 (50%), Casspi: 0/1, Hawes: 4/5 (80%), Udrih: 0/1, Greene: 0/1, Udoka: 1/3 (33.3%), May: 2/2 (100%).

Now this does not count FGs that were put backs or tips off a rebound or half court buzzer beaters. Only FGs from the flow of the offense. I am not surprised to see that the best FG percentage was from draw and kicks and from passing out of the post. Udrih did surprise me with how good he is creating for himself. He may even be as good as Tyreke, just that he doesn’t get all the way to the basket. Maybe some other Kings could learn from Beno. Especially Nocioni who forced a couple plays 1-on-1