Utah Jazz vs. Portland Trail Blazers: Keys to the Game

Key Stat – Field Goal Percentage

This stat might seem like kind of a no-brainer, but it will be tomorrow’s key figure for a couple significant reasons. First of all, the Blazers give up a lot of points and their struggles this season have largely been due to their poor defense. They are currently fifth worst in the league in opponent points per game as they’re allowing their foes to score 110.1 points per contest.

Therefore, if the Jazz can simply make open shots and convert on offense, they should be able to put up a big scoring night on a less than formidable Portland D. The Jazz had several open looks against the Clippers on Monday, but simply could not get them to fall. That inability to gain any sort of rhythm or momentum offensively was the main element contributing to their downfall.

Furthermore, the Jazz have shot under their season average from the field in each of their last two contests going 40.7 percent against Boston and a hapless 32.2 percent against the Clippers. Utah is currently ranked 11th in the league in field goal percentage at a 46.3 percent clip and while that isn’t exactly great, it’s still much better than how they’ve looked of late.

To break out of their slump and find a way past Portland, it will be critical that the Jazz rediscover their shot, make the Blazers pay for their lackluster defense and take some momentum and confidence in their shooting ability into the All-Star break.