Phoenix Suns and Utah Jazz to shake off opening losses in their battle
The new NBA season did not start off that well for both Utah Jazz and Phoenix Suns. The previous matches between the two teams have featured competition between the power forwards of both the teams, including Carlos Boozer and
Amar’e Stoudemire. This of course is a part of history now, since it seems both the teams have lost their offensive edge from the last season, as they struggled against their oppositions in their respective opening games.
Utah lost to Denver Nuggets 110-88 while Phoenix lost to Portland Trail Blazers 106-92, which left most of their fans surprised at the outcome. The point totals were not as good as the 2009-10 season, where Suns were the League
leaders with an average of 110.2 points per game and Jazz were not far behind with 104.2 points per game along with all the Basketball excitement behind them.
Even Suns Head Coach, Alvin Gentry could not believe the outcome and confessed that his team struggled offensively and is not just a 92 point scoring team. He confessed that it is hard to defend a turnover and obviously a better
job is required to turn things around on board.
Both the teams opened against an opponent they had knocked out in last season’s playoffs and were certain to face the music, since both of them are missing their last season’s top scorers. Both Suns and Jazz should shake off their
bad opening games and should look at their battle from a new angle.
The Suns were still quite competitive in the loss as they saw their six point lead flying away in the fourth quarter where they were outscored 31-11 and never recovered. Steve Nash was at his best scoring a game-high 26 points,
six assists and four rebounds helped by Jason Richardson who added 22 points to the losing side.
On the other hand Jazz were not impressive at all in their 1st game against Denver where they fell to a 20 points deficit just after the first half. Paul Millsap tried his best to have a good game with 15 points and
eight rebounds in his 27 minutes.
Phoenix will have to work really hard to take over the Jazz home court advantage and the newly acquired Al Jefferson from Minnesota Timberwolves. On the other end, Millsap is also planning to play an exceptional game for Jazz.
Deron Williams is there to take care of the perimeter being the top-three point guard that he is. His team high 17 points for Jazz were a booster but he sat on the bench during the fourth quarter of the game as Denver built a large lead.
Williams believes that his team just did not play hard enough. He said that the timing of the whole team was off on offence and they gave up a lot of points on defence, which is certainly not a way to win any ball game.
Hakim Warrick, Hedo Turkoglu and Josh Childress were the Phoenix debutants in the game scoring 10, 6 and 4 points respectively.
The fans of both the teams are asking how the loss of top scoring men would affect the performances of point guards Nash and Williams. Nash proved worthwhile with 26 points on Tuesday, yet even the coach Alvin Gentry has not understood
the team fully. Jazz looked utterly tired in their weak effort against Denver and coach Sloan believes he needs to give the credit to Denver for playing marvellously. He, however, reiterates that the season is not over.
Both the teams have a win-loss record of 0-1 this season; however, the odds are favouring the Suns, who have a 13-6 record in their last 19 League meetings. Perhaps it was the loss of five-time All-Star Stoudemire that contributed
to their defeat in the 1st game. Stoudemire opted out of his contract with the Suns with whom he has played for his entire, eight year long tenure and then joined the New York Knicks.
Despite having lost their key players and the season openers, both Suns and Jazz are confident to regain their rhythm and recreate the magic from last season. Both these teams are no Miami Heat or Los Angeles Lakers but they sure
can turn the tables around when it comes to Basketball. They have done that in the past and it will not be surprising if they repeat that in Thursday’s game.
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