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, October 29, 2008

The Wait is Finally Over. Game #1 vs. Nuggets!

If you're like me, you've been waiting patiently for almost 6 months. Waiting for THIS...



Now, we all know that Deron will be watching from the sidelines, but that's no reason to not be totally amped up for the game!

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Game #1 vs. Denver Nuggets

The storyline for this game will no doubt be the absence of both Deron Williams for the Jazz and Carmelo Anthony for the Nuggets, who is serving a 2-game suspension for drunk driving. While Deron is the heart and soul of this Jazz team, I think Anthony is a bigger loss. The Jazz have depth at every position and can satisfactorily replace DWilll; Denver, on the other hand, will be hard-pressed to replace Anthony's 25.7 points and 7.4 rebounds, especially since they gave away their best rebounder and defender in Marcus Camby (who we'll see plenty of this weekend). Denver finished in the 8 seed last year and was handled easily by the Lakers in 4 games. The Jazz finished 4 games ahead of the Nuggets and won the season series 3-1 while scoring an average of 120.8 points per game.

This is essentially the same Jazz team as last year, aside from the Hart/Knight trade (YES!) and the addition of Kofous. Denver sent Camby to the Clippers for peanuts and lost Eduardo Najera to the Nets via free agency. Nene is back and so is the Birdman (the Nuggets' team preview can be found here).

Denver just doesn't seem all that threatening anymore. We beat them last year when they had a lot of talent, and they are not as good as they were then. The Jazz should win this going away, but look for Denver to fight pretty hard for the first 15 minutes or so. The combination of differing styles of Ronnie Price and Brevin Knight in the PG spot should make things difficult for the Nuggets, despite Allen Iverson's massive talent level (unfortunately, he can't score all their points...or can he?)

The line is Jazz by 7, I'll take the Jazz 105-96, but it'll be a 15 point game in the 4th quarter.

Be sure to head over to The Nugg Doctor and give them a little good-natured trash talk.

9 comments:

M. D. said...

OK Game is tied. I'm nervous. This is exactly where D-Will takes the game over...

Knight doesn't look much better than Hart right now.

Brock Kassing said...

Nice! One game down without D-Will and we walk away with a W. I'll take it! I followed the game via updates on my phone so I'm not sure how ugly it was. Looks like Boozer is ready to play for a big paycheck. Great win....Nuggets suck. Wish I could have seen it live.

JC said...

Brevin's plus/minus: -8
Price's plus/minus: +14

No bench player had a positive plus/minus. Let's hope it's just opening game jitters. Although maybe Deron really does make the whole team better.

Really liked AK tonight, and Memo had a very quiet double double

M. D. said...

great win for the jazz. I must admit that ak played really well. I might actually start liking this off the bench thing. Man it was good to see ronnie price hit those free throws at the end. Nuggs down...bring on a real test like the clippers. What did I just say?

Anonymous said...

If I'm allowed to say it... congratulations to you guys!

If you need another writer... :)

Go Jazz.
And for all the AK off the bench (which worked well), CJ starting didn't turn out too well. I know it's only 1 game, but...

M. D. said...

Thanks UtesFan.

Who drew up the play for Kenyon Martin to shoot the 3? Nice work AD, we knew you always loved the Jazz deep down inside.

Unknown said...

I think I figured out the reason CJ Miles drives CB and me nuts. He compounds his mistakes. Everyone makes a mistake, but CJ follows it up with another one right away. Like hell make a bad pass that becomes a turn-over and then runs down the floor to foul the guy as hes making the lay-up. Basically, I think the guy has a ton of talent, but he plays like a spaz.

I loved the AK off the bench. Hated AK dribbling around to take the last shot of the quarter, that was ugly. It seemed to me that Booze was giving a better effort on D for 1 game and I think we need to give Ronnie Price more minutes until Derron comes back.

Pick-n-Roll said...

Love AK coming off the bench. AK wants and need the minutes, and I think by bringing him off the bench allows him to eliminate the early foul trouble. Like I told CB he might be coming off the bench but he will still end up with starter minutes. Nice job AK.

M. D. said...

props to pick and roll. You did call It last week at the game. Stll cj miles is not a starter in this league.