The results are in...guess who's #1?

The results of LA Ball Talks team blog contest are in. And once again, Jazz fans have made it clear that True Blue Jazz is their favorite Jazz blog on the Internet. Thanks to all who voted. Stay tuned because we have big big BIG news on the way....Prepare for Jazz heaven.

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Mark Your Calendars

The 2008-2009 schedule was released this morning. First off, there will be FIVE Christmas Day games: Hornets @ Magic, Spurs @ Suns, Celtics @ Lakers, Wiz @ Cavs, and finally Mavs @ Blazers.

Now for the Jazz games:
  • Oct 29 - Opening game for the Jazz vs the rich and creamy Nougats
  • Nov 1 and Nov 3 - A home and home vs former Jazz man Jason Hart, watch as he goes off for 20 points and 12 assists in each game.
  • Nov 9 through Nov 15 - The Jazz's road mettle will be tested early. A 5 game trip versus the Knicks, 76ers, Wiz, Bobcats, and Cavs.
  • Nov 21 - @ Spurs, can we FINALLY win there?
  • Dec. 9 - 20th anniversary of Sloan as the Jazz head coach, but we're IN Minnesota, lame.
  • Dec 15 through Dec 23 - Annual pre-Christmas east coast road trip starts in Boston, then Nets, Pistons, Bulls, and Bucks.
  • Jan 2 - First of only 3 games against the Lakers (anyone want to guess if we get 2 home games or 2 road games?)
  • Jan 7 - Hornets @ Jazz, first head-to-head matchup for CP3 and DWill since playing in the Olympics
  • Of the final 10 games, 6 are on the road and at least 6 are against playoff teams. The final game of the season...@ Lakers. Awesome.
Has anyone else noticed that the Jazz play lots of road games against playoff teams during the last 10 games of the season? Playing AT the Lakers for the last game of the season? C'mon! That game will likely have serious seeding implications. Last season we were AT San Antonio, where the winner got home court advantage in the first round. Before that they were AT New Orleans and AT Dallas before getting a little home relief against 2 more playoff teams (Denver and Houston). In 2006, the Jazz finished the season with 3 straight road games before finishing at home, they played @ New Orleans, @ Dallas, and @ San Antonio.

Obviously the NBA can't know which teams will be good or which will make the playoffs, but they can reasonably predict which teams will be in the top 6 (Lakers, Hornets, Spurs, Jazz, Rockets/Mavs, Suns). I guess it makes for good TV if you've got a game with real playoff implications. But last season the Lakers finished the season with 4 straight home games, 2 of which were non-playoff teams (actually, one game was AT the Clippers, but they play in the same building).

This season, the Jazz have three 5-game road trips and only one 5-game homestand. There are two 6 of 7's at home, but a quick glance at the schedule makes it seem like we're playin 60 road games instead of 41.

18 comments:

Unknown said...

Whoa, calm down on the posting there Scrum. Two posts in less than 24 hours? Are you trying to make the rest of look like slackers? Just kidding, this is why we brought you aboard.

Nice work in breaking down the schedule. It seems like the Jazz always get screwed with it. When ever they get a break and only have to play a playoff team 3 times instead of 4 its always 2 on the road and 1 at home. I think it might have something to do with Larry Miller outlawing home games on Sunday. It looks our boys are going to have to prove that they can win on the road this year with all those 5 game excursions. Maybe that is why D-Will pushed so hard for CJ Miles, he has to be a lot of fun to hang out with on the road.

Brock Kassing said...

Scrum's shoulders have got to be sore because he is carrying this blog.

Best part of the post:

Nov 9 through Nov 15 - The Jazz's road mettle will be tested early. A 5 game trip versus the Knicks, 76ers, Wiz, Bobcats, and Cavs.

Guaran-ass-teed we go 2-3 tops on that trip. That's our Jazz.

UtesFan89 said...

Booner's too optimistic.
1-4 wouldn't surprise me, though it would suck.

I think David Stern & the NBA just gave the Jazz "the bird".

JC said...

I was in a bit of a hurry so I had to post before the TV schedule came out, but it looks like we have 7 games on TNT/ESPN. I wouldn't be surprised to see that increase, they always seem to pick up more Jazz games as the season progresses.

I didn't want a non-Jazz related post to stay at the top too long :)

M. D. said...

That's just it UtesFan. They give us "the bird" every year and we continue to say thanks. I guess the optimistic way to look at it would be consider how much ground we can make up those last few game. There is serious playoff seeding on the line. And if you're lucky, the team on top will be stupid and sit all their starters for the last 3 weeks and then lose in the first round of the playoffs. (Thanks for the memories Dallas)

Brock Kassing said...

Good point utesfan, I should set the bar at 1-4 that way when we fly home with a goose egg I can say, well, I was one game off.
Another excellent point is the NBA giving us the Bird. I could not have said it better. Perfect example, is the Christmas Day NBA Marathon featuring every team in the NBA except the Jazz. Hell, I saw the Iranian National Team on the list playing the Night Cap against the D-League All-Stars.

M. D. said...

Seriously? The Iranian National Team? Can you send me the link to that article? Or better yet just post about it? I can't wait to read that. I've been on the internet for 6 hours straight google searching christmas+iranian+national+team+2008+playing+d-league+all-stars and haven't seen anything come up.

I look forward to it. Thanks Booner for your amazing work!

Brock Kassing said...

Here it is:


fjkhfasdljkf ljkhflkdhf
lkjaghfljkdhf
asfjkhflhjdf ladjh ksdjfhi kjh
sdjfkhlasfh
djkhf
Christmas afdkdasl;f jkhdlfh
basket adjkfhdasfl;hj ball
asdfhldjksfhjk

Glad I could help.

M. D. said...

Link doesn't work. Please advise.

Brock Kassing said...

Oh, my bad, that's the article itself. Just wanted to save you time. I'd give you the link but I know you are busy.

M. D. said...

yeah, busy finding my new picture for Blogger.

Brock Kassing said...

why did you use your Senior Class Picture?

UofTOrange said...

Let's get this out there early: I hate the Jazz

Brock Kassing said...

YES! Nice to have you back uoftorange. Let the smack begin.

P.S. Have an Artest jersey yet?

M. D. said...

No but he did just purchase his newest Fat Head.

UofTOrange said...

I only wish I could adorn my trailer with an Artest fathead! Maybe after I save up for a few years!!

No Artest jersey yet, but I think I'll be grabbing one this year. I love that guy. If anyone had asked me, I would have told them that Artest is the one guy in the league that would put the Rockets over the top. (Non top 10 players of course)

M. D. said...

That's basically how I am looking at the Brevin Knight trade. See you in the playoffs!

UofTOrange said...

Did CBJ just compare Artest to Brevin Knight? I forgot how to read, right?