Utah Jazz at Detroit Pistons: Keys to the Game

Key Match-up – Rodney Hood and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope

In the Jazz’s last contest against the Pistons, Rodney Hood was absolutely superb. He finished the game with 27 points in just 28 minutes on 10-of-14 shooting from the field and a scorching 7-of-8 from deep. Utah won the game largely thanks to their incredible three-point shooting and Hood was the team’s main contributor.

However, Hood was also the beneficiary of the fact that one of Detroit’s best players, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope who’s an excellent shooter and defender, was sidelined. Caldwell-Pope is averaging 14.2 points per game while shooting a solid 37.1 percent from deep and in my mind, is one of the league’s more underrated players.

He’s had his ups and downs lately, but is certainly capable of going off as evidenced by his recent 26 and 33-point outputs.

And the very fact that Caldwell-Pope is somewhat streaky is what makes this match-up so vital because Rodney Hood is the exact same way. When he’s in a groove, he can be nearly impossible to stop, but when he’s slumping, he usually does so in a big way.

Hood has had rough games in three of his last four including in Utah’s recent win over the Clippers in which he struggled with foul trouble and was never able to find a groove.

Hopefully that’s something he can reverse tonight, because whichever team’s shooting guard, Rodney Hood or Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, is able to get it going the most, could very well give his team a decided advantage and a critical edge.