Utah Jazz at Portland Trail Blazers; Opening Night Primer & Game Thread

The 2016-17 NBA season tips off on Tuesday night as Rudy Gobert and the Utah Jazz take on Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers.

It’s finally here — opening night in the NBA. After a busy summer in which George Hill, Joe Johnson and Boris Diaw were added to the fold and a preseason riddled with injuries, the Utah Jazz are back in action. And this time, the game actually counts.

Expectations are higher than they’ve been in years for a Jazz team that suddenly has a good mix of versatile, veteran players to complement a young and talented core. However, the injuries and a tough opening schedule are going to make it a battle for head coach Quin Snyder and his crew.

As was the case to start their preseason slate, the Jazz will be on the road at the Moda Center to take on Damian Lillard, C.J. McCollum and the Portland Trail Blazers. The very same Trail Blazers that have beaten the Jazz twice in recent weeks, most recently in Utah’s preseason finale at Vivint Smart Home Arena.

This game will look very different from the recent exhibition bouts between the two clubs, but the Jazz are still going to have a tough time getting a different result. The Blazers have won an NBA-record 15 straight home openers and the banged-up Jazz band will be without their best player in Gordon Hayward.

Related Story: Utah Jazz: On Opening Night, I'm Begrudgingly Optimistic

They’ll also have to contend with one of hottest-shooting duos in the Association in the aforementioned Lillard and McCollum. In the teams’ final preseason meeting, an 88-84 Blazers win, Lillard hit 11-of-16 shots and scored 27 points. He and his backcourt mate will undoubtedly look to put the pressure on Utah once again in Blazers coach Terry Stotts’ “outside-in” attack.

However, there is some good news for the Jazz. Derrick Favors, who hadn’t seen the floor in any capacity since the preseason opener, has finally returned to practice. He’s likely a game-time decision for Tuesday night’s contest.

With Favors’ status up in the air and Hayward out, look for the Jazz to continue to feed Rudy Gobert down low. In six preseason games, Gobert averaged just under 15 points in only 24 minutes per contest. He also made 63 percent of his field goal attempts and looks to have turned a corner at the free throw line.

A lot of the burden offensively will also fall to Rodney Hood, who looked rusty in his return to the floor last week, but should be ready to go for opening night.

Another player to watch is Dante Exum, who will be appearing in his first regular season basketball game since 2015. In the preseason, Exum showed a newfound willingness to attack the basket. He also exhibited the same high-level defense that became his calling card as a rookie.

It’s something the Jazz are going to need from him, as well as Hill, if they hope to keep the Blazers backcourt honest.

Game Data

Broadcast Info

Tip-off: 8 PM MT from Moda Center in Portland, OR
TV: ROOT Sports
Radio: The Zone Sports Network (97.5 FM & 1280 AM Salt Lake City)

Projected Starting Lineups 

Utah Jazz (0-0)

PG: George Hill
SG: Rodney Hood
SF: Joe Johnson
PF: Boris Diaw
C: Rudy Gobert

Portland Trail Blazers (0-0)

PG: Damian Lillard
SG: C.J. McCollum
SF: Moe Harkless
PF: Al-Farouq Aminu
C: Mason Plumlee

Injuries 

Gordon Hayward (broken finger) and Alec Burks (rehab) are out, while Derrick Favors (IT band syndrome) is a game-time decision. Festus Ezeli (left knee) is out for Portland.

More from The J-Notes

• With the FIBA World Cup over for Simone Fontecchio, it’s clear he deserves minutes for the Utah Jazz
• Best, Worst and Most likely scenarios for the Utah Jazz this season
• Hoops Hype downplays the significance of the Utah Jazz’s valuable assets
• 3 Utah Jazz players who have the most to gain or lose this season
• Former Utah Jazz forward Rudy Gay is a free agent still and it shouldn’t surprise anyone

Prediction 

The Westgate Superbook Las Vegas currently has the Jazz as 5½ point underdogs in the game. I’m tempted to take the Jazz with the points, but given the injury situation and match-ups, I’ll take the Blazers to win and cover the spread.

The first couple weeks of the ’16-17 season could be a bumpy ride, but better times are on the horizon.

Discussion

The Twitter hashtag for opening night is #UTAatPOR. You can catch my random observations on the tweets @PurpleandBlues1. Or, if you want to party like it’s 2004, you can leave your thoughts in the comment thread below.