Prediction – Jazz 112, Knicks 101
It’s been a tough stretch for the Jazz and to be quite honest, I felt their last two losses were particularly unforeseen. Nevertheless, without trying to jinx the Jazz, I have to say that I would be significantly more surprised if they lost tonight than I was about the previous two losses.
There’s no way to put it lightly, the Knicks are a bad team this year. And as emotions will be running high and as the Jazz seek to restore their reputation as a truly daunting force in the West, I expect them to come out locked in and mentally prepared to simply put away a less than foreboding New York Knicks team.
Utah will have to patch up the poor three-point shooting they’ve displayed of late as well as combine the offensive rhythm from the loss to Indiana with the defensive prowess from the first three quarters in the loss to Chicago if they hope to win. If they do so, and I believe they will, then I’m pinning them as comfortable 11-point winners in the contest.
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As I mentioned earlier, this game will be Utah’s final respite before the extremely important match-up against the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday that could very well decide where Utah ends up in the Western Conference standings.
From there, the Jazz will enjoy a bit of a lighter stretch for the first time in what seems like forever, but that doesn’t mean they can take their foot off the gas for tonight’s game or at any time after. The Jazz have absolutely reached the stretch run of the season and desperately need to get back on track with a confidence-building win tonight.
All stats courtesy of NBA.com