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NBA Saturday: Utah vs. Portland
As mentioned in an earlier post this week, Portland is on an incredible winning streak. On the other hand, Utah is playing less than stellar basketball, and now have the task of going to Portland to try to beat a team that is 13-3 at home this season. Good luck with that.
The Utah Jazz would seem they have the talent to be doing better then they are. Carlos Boozer is averaging a double-double, with 24 points and 11 rebounds a game. Deron Williams is one of the better young talents in the league, averaging nearly a double-double himself, with just under 20 points and nine assists per outing. Finally, Andrei Kirilenko is a defensive nightmare with his freakishly long wing span. Despite all this Utah has struggled to maintaine a record about the .500 mark.
Portland, as noted, is playing out of this world. Brandon Roy is a great team leader, averaging around 19 points a game. LaMarcus Aldridge has almost made an impact, leading his team in rebounds with 7.6 a game. He is also contributing points to a tune of 17 a game, showing this team has more than a few viable offensive scoring threats.
In years past, in fact just last year, you would strongly favor the Jazz in this contest. To be fair Portland didn’t exactly start the season off hot, and could just be a game or two away from a relapse. For now I will favor Portland in this game, which I truly feel could go either way, depending on who is hot, and who is not, at the time.
NBA Basketball Sunday: Dallas vs. Minnesota
How can I put this lightly without insulting Minnesota fans? The Timberwolves are the worst team in the league. As of this writing they have only won four of 26 games, and they are showing very few signs of getting any better. I guess this is what to expect when you get rid of Kevin Garnett and get very little in return for him. They do have a solid player on their team, named Al Jefferson, but it’s hard to gauge if he’s really that good, or if he’s the only player with some sort of offensive talent on the team. Jefferson leads the team with 20 points and 12 rebounds a game. The only other somewhat scoring threat is youngster Sebastian Telfair, who is averaging just over 10 a game, to go along with 5.7 assists, which leads the team.
The Dallas Mavericks started the season a little show, but as of this writing they have won five in a row. Every game in the west seems to be a challenge, and the Mavericks have already has a lot of tough games. Last year the Mavericks finished with the best record in the league, but despite the bad start, they only have one more loss in the loss column this year then they did last year at this time. The Mavs’ are truly coming around, and that could just spell trouble for the rest of the league, most noticeably the Minnesota Timberwolves.
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