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The Phoenix Suns (19-22) will find out Wednesday night if the loss to the Timberwolves on Monday was a defensive blip or a regression to the norm after a hot streak. The Utah Jazz (20-21) present an entirely different kind of problem than Kevin Love and friends with Al Jefferson camping out in the low block and pump-faking his way to paint points dominance.
Jefferson is often overlooked playing in Utah, but there's few better in the post with his combination of great footwork and touch with both hands. He put up 33 points on 14-18 shooting against the Detroit Piston's Greg Monroe in Monday's Jazz win and he'll give Marcin Gortat and Robin Lopez a real test.
Utah also features a bevy of young and interesting players including Enes Kanter, Derrick Favors, and Gordon Hayward. It should be fun to get our first look at this new Jazz team.
This is the first of three games for the Suns over a three day stretch.
Projected Lineups:
- Point guard: Steve Nash --- Devin Harris
- Shooting guard: Jared Dudley -- Raja Bell
- Small forward: Grant Hill -- Josh Howard
- Power forward: Channing Frye -- Paul Millsap
- Center: Marcin Gortat -- Al Jefferson
- Key subs: Suns (Shannon Brown, Sebastian Telfair, Robin Lopez, Hakim Warrick). Jazz (C.J. Miles, Gordon Hayward, Earl Watson, Derrick Favors, Enes Kanter)
TV broadcast info:
The Suns game tips off at 7:30 p.m. Arizona time on Fox Sports Arizona and Arizona Sports 620 radio. Bright Side of the Sun will have the live game thread. This game was originally scheduled to be on ESPN, but the WWL dropped it in favor of Heat Vs. Bulls (we can't blame them).
Suns vs. Jazz Game Preview: Control Your Own Destiny! - Bright Side Of The Sun
Marcin Gortat is coming off of one of his worst games in recent memory with 8 points, 4 rebounds and 4 personal fouls. Do you think Polish Heritage Night distracted him? Said Gortat of his poor performance in the Minnesota game: "After the game, I was in a big black hole because I didn't help the team," Gortat said. "I didn't play. It was bad. It was definitely like a wake-up call. Once in a while, you need a game like that to bring your ass back from the sky to Earth. It was a game to make me be sure to be humble again." The Suns will certainly need the Hammer if they hope to have success against the Jazz.
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