Preview: Orlando Magic @ Utah Jazz
The Orlando Magic look to extend their franchise record eight game road winning streak when they travel to Utah to take on the Jazz Thursday night.
The Magic have started a franchise-best 17-4 while the Jazz enter the game with a record of 12-9. Carloz Boozer is having an excellent season. He’s shooting 56.5% from the field, is scoring 21.3 points per game and is grabbing 10.9 rebounds per game.
Tip off from Energy Solutions Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah is scheduled for 10:30. You can watch the game on FSN. You out of town fans are in luck tonight – the game is also on TNT. As always, if you can’t watch the game, you can hear it locally on WDBO 580 AM and in Spanish on WONQ AM 1030.
The Line: Magic -3
Starters:
Orlando
Dwight Howard
Rashard Lewis
Mickael Pietrus
Vince Carter
Jason Williams
Utah
Mehmet Okur
Carlos Boozer
Ronnie Brewer
Wesley Matthews
Deron Williams
Last Meeting: On March 15, 2009, the Magic blew out the Jazz 105-87. Orlando shot 44.4% from the field and held the Jazz to just 37.2% shooting. Dwight Howard led the Magic with 28 points and 20 rebounds. Anthony Johnson had 14 points and 5 rebounds off of the bench. Carlos Boozer led the Jazz with 23 points and 13 rebounds.
Season Series: The Magic swept the season series with the Jazz last year. In their first meeting of the 2008-2009 season, just under a year ago on December 13, 2008, Dwight Howard missed the first game of his career, but the Magic would fair just fine. They shot an eFG% of 57.3%, including 14 3-pointers. The Jazz shot just 42.9% from the field. Rashard Lewis had 27 points and 9 rebounds to lead the Magic. Carlos Boozer did not play for the Jazz, but Paul Millsap filled in well, scoring 14 points and grabbing 14 rebounds. Deron Williams had 17 points and 11 assists.
About the Magic: The Magic have now won 11 of their last 12 games. They have swept the first two games of their current west coast trip by winning two games in California, Saturday night against the Warriors and Tuesday night against the Clippers.
The Magic got another excellent game out of Dwight Howard on his birthday Tuesday. All of Howard’s numbers, outside of his fouls, which have been down, have been up recently and I’d expect that to continue.
Just one game after receiving a DNP – Coaches Decision, Ryan Anderson was the first frontcourt player off of the bench and Brandon Bass was the one receiving a DNP.
Anthony Johnson has been solid since taking over as the #2 Point Guard and he had another solid game. He scored 6 points, dished out 4 assists and did an excellent job of defending Clippers Point Guard Baron Davis. The Magic may call on Johnson again to defend the super talented Deron Williams if J-Will struggles on the defensive end again. Zach McCann discussed Anthony Johnson’s more-than-solid play here.
About the Jazz: The Jazz had won 5 of their last 6 and 8 of their last 10 games (They have surprisingly already defeated the Spurs three times) before falling to the Los Angeles Lakers Wednesday night at Staples Center.
The Jazz trailed by just 2 before the Lakers absolutely dominated the fourth quarter, outscoring the Jazz 28-6. Utah turned the ball over 17 times and had just 16 assists. The Jazz were absolutely awful shooting the ball. Their effective field goal percentage was just 36%.
That is usually not the case. The Jazz are the 7th most efficient team in the NBA on offense and their eFG% coming into the Lakers game was 52.2%, fifth best in the NBA. The Jazz score 100.2 points per game. They rank first in assist ratio.
Deron Williams is having another very good season. He’s averaging 18.9 points per game on 48.4% shooting is dishing out 9.9 assists per game.
Outside of Boozer and Williams, the Jazz have 4 other players who average double figures in scoring, Mehmet Okur (13.5 ppg), Andrei Kirilenko (12.7 ppg), Ronnie Brewer (11.8 ppg) and Paul Millsap (10.1 ppg).
This will be an excellent test for Orlando’s defense (and one that the Lakers passed with flying colors Wednesday night).
Defensively, the Jazz aren’t nearly as good, ranking just 19th in the league. The Jazz give up 98.2 points per game. They allow opponents to shoot 46.2% from the field and give up 6.3 3-pointers made per game.
Since the Jazz are a tough team to slow down and the Magic will get some open looks, Orlando’s shooters need to take advantage of this and be on in case the Magic are involved in a shootout like they were Saturday night at Golden State.
Utah’s rebound rate is good (7th in the NBA, 51.3) and is just slightly behind the Magic (6th,51.5). As good of a rebounding team as the Magic are, they have had some struggles on the glass and have recently made a habit of being outrebounded on the offensive glass. Dwight Howard needs to crash the boards early and set the tone on the glass.
It’ s interesting to note that both teams played their last game in the Staples Center (Orlando played Tuesday night against the Clippers and Utah played Wednesday night against the Lakers).
Utah is the middle of insane four game stretch. Their last two games were against San Antonio and the Los Angeles Lakers and after their game with the Magic; they will see the Lakers again.
The Magic are in luck because the Jazz are on the second night of back-to-back and had to fly in from Los Angeles early in the morning.
(Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger and a contributor at NFL Mocks Subscribe to his RSS feed and add him on Twitter to follow him daily.)