After the team's 125-107 loss to the Phoenix Suns on Monday, the Blazers (28-34) were officially eliminated from the playoffs. While the team was a long-shot after the trades of Marcus Camby and Gerald Wallace, they've played hard for interim head coach Kaleb Canales. Portland's 8-11 record is hardly indicate of poor effort, and more due to the team suffering from a lack of depth due to the trades, as well as injuries to LaMarcus Aldridge and Nicolas Batum.
The Jazz (32-30) currently sit just a half-game behind the Phoenix Suns for the eighth and final playoff spot in the West after a thrilling triple-overtime win over the Dallas Mavericks. Utah is a team that relies heavily on points in the paint, and do a great job of getting to the free throw line (7th in attempts/game) and rebounding (3rd).
It's unclear whether Raymond Felton will play in the game after sitting out to rest his sore Achilles. With the team out of the playoffs, it's probably in both Felton and the team's interests to allow Jonny Flynn and Nolan Smith to split the point guard duties again. Smith looked as much like an NBA player as he has all season against the Suns, showing confidence and decisiveness when running the offense. Flynn did a good job distributing the ball, but still makes some head-scratching decisions passing, as well as with shot selection.
Nicolas Batum is another big question mark for the team, as he also sat out Monday's game to rest a balky quad. If Batum can't go, Luke Babbitt will likely start in his place. Babbitt scored a career-high 18 points against the Suns, and showed a confidence in his game and decision-making that's been lacking in most of his first two NBA seasons. The kid is a lights-out three-point shooter, and if he can work on his dribble-drive game mroe, Babbitt could be a solid stretch-4 option off the bench in the future.
The Blazers lack depth in the frontcourt, as behind Joel Przybilla and J.J. Hickson are the ancient Kurt Thomas, the short Craig Smith and tall-but-inconsistent Hasheem Thabeet. I expect Thabeet to get his most significant run as a Trail Blazer, as Joel Przybilla is playing through an ankle injury, and could get his fair share of blocks, as both Jefferson and Millsap get their shots blocked fairly regularly.
For Portland to have a chance to win this game, they'll need to close up the paint and make Utah hit open jumpers. The Jazz run a legitimate four-deep frontcourt, with starters Al Jefferson (19.6 points, 9.6 rebounds) and Paul Millsap (16.6 points, 8.7 rebounds) leading the team in scoring and rebounding. Behind them are second-year power forward Derrick Favors (8.5 points, 6.5 rebounds) and rookie center Enes Kanter (4.3 points, 4.2 rebounds). The Jazz will relentlessly hit the boards, and as a result, are prone to allowing some fast break points. The Blazers need to try and get the Jazz to play an up-tempo game, which would negate their significant size and skill advantage in the frontcourt.
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