Three players to watch as Utah Jazz face the New York Knicks

The Utah Jazz will take on the New York Knicks in the famous Madison Square Garden tonight. Here are some names to keep an eye on for this game.

Tonight the Utah Jazz will make their annual trip to the Madison Square Garden and face a less than stellar team in the New York Knicks.

Last time these two teams met, the Knicks were on somewhat of a roll. At the time they were inching to a .500 record after firing their coach David Fizdale, and I made it a point that the Jazz shouldn’t underestimate this squad.

However, being just hours removed from playing in Hollywood and missing their best player Marcus Morris, the Jazz were just too much for the Knicks, leaving zero room for doubt of how that game would turn out.

Emmanuel Mudiay had his own revenge game hanging 20 points on his former teammates, and Quin Snyder was able to empty all of the bench for one of the only times this season. While it would be great to see EM do it again, it’s not likely given that Mike Conley is back in the rotation.

Here are some names to keep an eye on for the game tonight:

Rudy Gobert

In the last game against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Rudy Gobert had the feast of his life without having to deal with Andre Drummond or Tristan Thompson in the paint. He typically dominates smaller and lesser frontcourts in the league, and tonight should be no exception.

He scored 16 points and snagged down 16 boards last time versus the Knicks, and about three years ago he tied his career high for 35 points against the Knicks. I’ll make a bold prediction and say Rudy will have his third 20 point/rebound game of his career tonight.

Julius Randle

Julius Randle has had some big games against the Jazz in the past. For example:

In December of 2016 he scored 25 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, making nine of his 12 shots from the field. His Lakers were edged out by only two points that night.

One year ago the Jazz and Pelicans played each other on back-to-back games with a day of rest in between. Randle put up 30 points, eight rebounds, and five assists while getting to the free throw line 12 times. He won that game by three points.

Two nights later he was back at it with 23 points and six rebounds. His five turnovers and five personal fouls ultimately did in the Pelicans though as they lost by 10 points. He was carrying too big of a load.

Look for the Utah defense to try to deny Randle as many opportunities as possible. The key will be to make sure he gets boxed out for rebounds, particularly when Tony Bradley and Georges Niang are the two biggest Jazzmen on the court.

Mike Conley

As earlier mentioned, Mike Conley was out nursing his left hamstring the last time these two teams met. That opened the door for Emmanuel Mudiay to have his revenge game. This time though, look for Conley to be the one looking for blood.

He’s had a few good games this year, getting hot from the three point line and taking the ball confidently to the rack. It seems though that those performances are entirely forgotten by Jazz Nation either because they end in a loss or Conley follows it up with three “meh” performances.

Jared Woodcox of the Purple Mountain Post recently noted of Conley’s brilliant month of February:

"Furthermore, while Conley’s impactful play has gone somewhat unnoticed of late, he was actually quite solid in the month of February, putting up 16.6 points per game while shooting nearly 45 percent from the field and 43.8 percent from deep. His play last month was somewhat blurred by the poor results Utah faced as a team, but all in all he’s looked more comfortable than we saw him earlier in the year."

Don’t be surprised to see Conley light it up for a four or five minute stretch tonight, similarly to how he torched the Sacramento Kings and Los Angeles Clippers earlier this season.

The Knicks recently beat the Houston Rockets in the Big Apple, so a victory won’t come easy tonight. Nevertheless, I believe the Jazz to be the supieror team and that will show by the final score. I’ll take the Jazz, with the final being 125 to 116.