Utah Jazz at Brooklyn Nets: Keys to the Game

The Utah Jazz kick off a five-game road trip with a game against the Brooklyn Nets tonight in a contest that they should be able to come away from with a win.

After a successful end to 2016 that featured three straight wins (and a minor setback in yet another injury to George Hill who suffered a nasty elbow to the face on New Year’s Eve), the Jazz are now on a five-game road trip to kick off the new year beginning with a contest in Brooklyn tonight.

It was relatively common knowledge that the Nets would be in for a long season once again and they’ve certainly lived up to that expectation. They currently boast the worst record in the NBA at 8-24 and now find themselves even below the 76ers in the standings. The Nets actually started out the year decently, but then went on a long seven-game losing streak in November and haven’t really recovered from there.

They have looked better when Jeremy Lin has been on the floor, but he’s struggled with several injuries and has only managed to play in 12 games this year.

It’s tough for any team to do well while missing one of their top players, but then again, no respect to Mr. Linsanity, but if he’s one of your top go-to guys, you know you’ve got some missing pieces on your roster. Lin will be out once again for tonight’s contest.

Nevertheless, the Nets have competed in a lot of games and even have posted some impressive wins such as a recent buzzer beater against the Charlotte Hornets and a double overtime victory against the Clippers.

So of course the Jazz will have to be on their toes and still be prepared to play their best basketball. Long road trips like this can always be tough, so it would be great to get it started off right with a victory over Brooklyn.

Utah could very well benefit from the return of Alec Burks who is reportedly set to make his return tonight! While he’ll likely play very limited minutes and will certainly have quite a bit of rust to shake off after missing the first 34 games of the season, having him back in action should provide quite a boost to Utah’s second unit.

https://twitter.com/xUtahJazz/status/815960332833263616

Beyond that, if they can just take care of business in other key areas, the Jazz should very well be able to outmatch a Brooklyn team that is short on depth and lacking in overall talent.

Key Match-up – Rudy Gobert and Brook Lopez

While the Nets don’t boast a ton of guys who can take over a game, they certainly have one All-Star caliber guy in Brook Lopez. Lopez has been a weapon throughout his career, unfortunately he’s never had much of a chance to showcase it on a good team minus the few years that Brooklyn was a mid-level playoff team.

Nevertheless, he continues to play at a high level, averaging 20.5 points per game this season. His rebounding numbers are down quite a bit this year, but he’s still a tough match-up in the paint.

Which means that Rudy Gobert will have his work cut out for him if he hopes to help lead the Jazz to a win. Luckily, Gobert has seemingly stepped up his game against highly-touted centers all year and Lopez certainly fits that description. Gobert continues to be a consistent double-double machine and there’s no reason why he can’t keep that up tonight.

Gobert will also likely be challenged by a familiar face in the paint, former Jazzman and fan favorite Trevor Booker who still maintains his promise that he’s going to dunk on Gobert. Booker was an awesome spark plug off the bench during his years as a Jazzman and while it’s a bummer that he’s now on a team that’s struggling, it’s good to see him doing well himself.

As a starter for the Nets, he’s averaging a career-high 9.7 points and nine rebounds per game, is coming off a 16-point game against the Wizards and has had several stat-stuffing nights for the Nets.

Nevertheless, it’s Lopez who will be Rudy’s main challenger and will be the guy that Utah will most need to slow down if they hope to come away with the win. Lopez is a good enough scorer that he’ll probably find a way to get near his season average in points, however, expect Rudy to make him work hard for those and frustrate him throughout the contest.

Key Stat – Three-Point Percentage

In Brooklyn’s eight wins this season, one of the biggest contributors to their victories has been their three-point shooting. While their average on the year is 33.7 percent, they’re shooting a much better 38.1 percent from deep in wins compared to 32.2 percent in losses.

And this is certainly a team that can get it going from deep with the likes of Sean Kilpatrick (who’s currently the team’s second leading scorer and has been a pleasant surprise this year), Joe Harris, Bojan Bogdanovic, Randy Foye and perhaps most surprisingly, Brook Lopez himself.

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The phenom big man is currently the second best three-point shooter on the team at 37.3 percent on 5.3 attempts per game. He’s one of the most improved big men shooting from deep as last year he shot just 14.3 percent with only 0.2 attempts per game. It’s a part of his game that he’s worked on significantly and has excelled at so far this season.

Thus Utah will need to be sure to do a good job of defending the perimeter to prevent this Brooklyn team from getting hot, which has been the main way they’ve been able to surprise teams this season.

Fortunately, on the opposite end of the court, Brooklyn is not too much of a threat as they’re currently dead last in opponent points per game, third to last in defensive efficiency and in the bottom ten in opponent three-point percentage.

So if Utah can hold them in check while allowing their own hot three-point shooters to get going against a very lackluster defense, it will provide a good opportunity for a blowout in Brooklyn.

Key Performer – Gordon Hayward

Unfortunately, with George Hill out once again, it looks like the majority of the workload is headed back once again on Gordon Hayward‘s shoulders. Gordon has been good in these situations, but it’s been nice when he has had help from his starting point guard. The duo is, in fact, still undefeated in the few games they’ve logged together.

However, against a less than formidable defense and with some favorable individual match-ups, Gordon Hayward should be in for a big game. He’s averaged only 19 points over his last two games, which isn’t bad by any means, but he’s proven himself more capable than that on several occasions and especially with Hill’s nearly 20 points per game out of the equation, I expect Hayward to pick up some of that slack and lead a significant charge.

If Utah is locking down on defense and Hayward is performing at a high level, there will be little that this Brooklyn team can do to stop them.

Prediction – Jazz 110, Brooklyn 95

Missing George Hill is a pain, but having Alec Burks back is a pleasant surprise so with those being the only updates since my week preview from yesterday, I’m going to go ahead and leave my score prediction the same, with the Jazz pulling out a 15-point victory.

It seems like it’s been a while since the Jazz pulled out a true wire-to-wire blowout and while I love how exciting the close games are and am encouraged at Utah’s ability to close out the nail biters, it sure would be nice to see them get a big confidence booster by winning in a big way tonight.

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Plus, if they can take a big lead into the fourth and rest some of their key guys, it will be very helpful for when they turn around and take on a tough Celtics team tomorrow.

This road trip could be a significant turning point in the season for the Jazz where they either prove that they’re just a middle of the pack team or a true force to be reckoned with. With several tough opponents looming on the horizon, they’ll need to get off to a good start with a win over Brooklyn tonight.

All stats courtesy of NBA.com