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Utah Jazz vs. New Orleans Pelicans: Keys to the Game

By Jared Woodcox

Feb 8, 2017; New Orleans, LA, USA; Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert (27) reacts after a foul by New Orleans Pelicans forward Anthony Davis (23) during the second quarter of a game at the Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 8, 2017; New Orleans, LA, USA; Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert (27) reacts after a foul by New Orleans Pelicans forward Anthony Davis (23) during the second quarter of a game at the Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports /
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Dec 10, 2016; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert (27) and Sacramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins (15) battle under the basket in the first quarter at Vivint Smart Home Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Swinger-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 10, 2016; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert (27) and Sacramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins (15) battle under the basket in the first quarter at Vivint Smart Home Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Swinger-USA TODAY Sports /

Key Match-up – Rudy Gobert and DeMarcus Cousins

New team, same key match-up. Cousins hasn’t quite been the reliable force that he was with the Kings just yet as he works to adjust to the first team other than Sacramento that he’s played for during his career, but he’s still been pretty impressive. At 23 points on 46.3 percent shooting and 15.2 rebounds per game, there’s no doubting that Boogie has had an impact.

And part of the reason why his acquisition was such a big deal was because it allowed his superstar teammate, Anthony Davis, to slide to his more comfortable power forward position. Fortunately for the Jazz (and as I went into detail about in my previous Jazz vs. Pelicans preview piece), Derrick Favors has historically matched up extremely well against Davis, leaving the battle between Gobert and Cousins as perhaps the most intriguing and vital.

It was always a treat to watch the Stifle Tower go to work against the electrifying center when he played for the Kings and I expect a similarly awesome battle tonight. In both contests so far between Cousins and Gobert, Rudy has been able to hold him to a highly inefficient outing and below his season average in scoring.

In the first, Boogie went just 7-of-22 from the field for 16 points while in the latter he went 5-of-18 from the field for 21 points. Meanwhile Rudy had impressive nights in both outings logging 17 points in each contest on 5-of-6 and 6-of-9 shooting respectively.

He was likewise an absolute monster for the Jazz last night against the Kings as he seemed to be everywhere defensively and hit both the shot to send the game into regulation and the game winning tip-in to finish with 16 points, 24 rebounds and three blocks.

Of course Gobert will also have to worry somewhat about Anthony Davis tonight as well, but if his prior success against Cousins and his performance from last night is any indication of what he and the Jazz are in store for tonight, then Utah should have a great chance of frustrating Boogie and slowing the Pelicans as a whole to come away with the win.

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