MSGKnickz33
The Gold Mac
The New York Knicks(14-30) vs The Utah Jazz(27-18)
Wed. 1/30 at 9:00pm ET on MSG
Wed. 1/30 at 9:00pm ET on MSG
Welcome to the MSGKnickz33 Pregame show, Im your host Jazzy Jeff and were here to take a look at Wednesday nights matchup. The Jazz have won 5 straight games and 9 out of their last 10. They are in 4th place in the Western Conference. Apparently the Gordon Giricek for Kyle Korver trade has worked for Utah. The Knicks lost their 2nd straight game but they still have won 5 out of their last 10. They had a dissapointing collapse in the 4th quarter of Tuesday nights game in LA. Eddy Curry only played 16 minutes because of foul trouble.
STARTING LINEUPS
The Utah Jazz
pg-Deron Williams
sg-Ronnie Brewer
sf-Andrei Kirilenko
pf-Carlos Boozer
C-Mehmet Okur
AND NOW YOUR NEW YORK KNICKERBOCKERS!!!!
AT POINT GUARD JAMAL CRAWFORD
AT SHOOTING GUARD FRED JONES
AT SMALL FORWARD QUENTIN RICHARDSON
AT POWER FORWARD ZACH RANDOLPH
AT CENTER EDDY CURRY
MSG33 PresEnTs the KeY MatChuP: Carlos Boozer vs Zach Randolph
Beats Curry vs Kwame Brown. Zach Randolph put up good numbers ealier this season against Boozer and the Jazz. Look for Zach to score and lead the Knicks in rebounds again. The problem with this matchup is that its not one-sided, Boozer got his. Lets compare their stats from the Jazz Knicks game earlier this season.
Zach Randolph:
34minutes
25pts
14rbs
73.3fg%
Carlos Boozer:
31minutes
30pts
12rbs
66.7fg%
As we see we have a good matchup here. Both players did a good job of scoring while shooting high percentages and rebounding. Boozer got in foul trouble. This combined with Stephon Marburys excellent performance propelled the Knicks to victory. The Knicks will need more then Randolph to step up to win this game. Its going to have to be a "team" win.
The Official MSG33 Pregame Strategy:
- Utah = 5th best team offensively(105.3ppg).......Defense!!!
- Move the ball and play as a team!!!
- Protect the Ball!!!!! Jazz rank 2nd in steals (9.1spg)
- Dont leave Crawford on Deron Williams for too long, too much of a strength advantage for Williams
Player Spotlight
*This is another new addition to my game thread. The Player Spotlight is where we moniter how a player on the Knicks has performed over the 5 most recent games.
Lets Take a look at Quentin Richardson(no homo). During recent discussions a couple of members on here have mentioned that hes shootin somewhat better but still not what he was.
Quentin Richardson Last 5 Games
28.6mpg
7.6ppg
4.4rpg
39.5fg%
44.4%3p
This is an improvement from his season stats:
28.6mpg
7ppg
4.9rpg
33.7fg%
30.3%3P
Notice his minutes are the same on the season that they are for the past 5 games. As we can tell by the shooting percentages he is shooting better but still not back to last years form.
Eastern Conference Standings
- Celtics(35-8)
- Pistons(32-13)-4GB
- Magic(28-18)-8.5GB
- Wizards(24-19)11GB
- Cavs(24-19)-11GB
- Raptors(24-20)11.5GB
- Hawks(18-23)16GB
- Nets(19-26)17GB
- Pacers(19-27)17.5GB
- Bulls(18-26)17.5GB
- Bobcats(18-27)18GB
- Bucks(18-28)18.5GB
- 76ers(17-28)19GB
- Knicks(14-30)21.5GB
- Heat(9-34)26GB
The Official Playoff Race: Knicks are 4.5 games out
Lets compare numbers from the first 3 months of the NBA season.
November(5-11):Opponents Points per game=101.5
93.1ppg,43.4rpg,17apg,42.9fg%,32.2%3P,70.2FT%,6.9spg,3.2bpg
December(3-11):Opponents Points per game=102.6
94.6ppg,41.3rpg,16.4apg,42.6fg%,33.1%3P,70.7FT%,6.7spg,1.5bpg
January(6-9):Opponents Points per game=98.7
96.9ppg,40.7rpg,21.4apg,46.1fg%,35.3%3P,74.7FT%,5.6spg,2.1bpg
Jazz Top 3 Point shooters
- C.J. Miles-43.5%
- Deron Williams-39.4%
- Mehmet Okur-38%
- Jason Hart-37.9%
- Andrei Kirilenko-37.3%
- Kyle Korver-33.3%
*Injury Report=Jason Hart, Jan. 27--Day to day
The Knicks will have their hands full with Deron Williams and the Utah Jazz. He has become one of the best point guards in the NBA after leading his team to the Western Conference Finals last year. Deron is averaging 19 points and 9.5 assists. Hes also avgeraging 3.5 turnovers per game. Utah is not a shot blocking team. When compared to the Knicks they are but when compared to other teams, 4.27bpg only ranks 24th. When it comes to shot blocking, the Knicks are an outlier compared to the rest of the league. Sacramento, the 29th worse shot blocking team averages 3.9bpg. The Knicks who are last average 2.3bpg. Thats a difference of 1.6 which is sad and depressing to Knicks fans who watched them in the 90's and before that.
Utah has a tough bench with players who can come in and make an impact. The Knicks need to be aware of Kyle Korver, Paul Millsap, Matt Harpring, CJ Miles, Jason Hart, and Ronnie Price. Isiah needs to go to his bench if Utahs energy and offense is too much to keep up with. Nate Robinson, David Lee, and Renaldo Balkman are always prepared to bring energy and disrupt the opposing teams continuity.
Throwback HipHop Video of the Day:
Artistrodigy
Title:You can Never Feel my Pain
Album:H.N.I.C.
Year:2000
That does it for my pregame show. I thank everyone for joining me and remember to tune in tonight to catch the Knicks and the Jazz.