The Utah Jazz arrive in Oklahoma City tonight riding a four game win streak. Could also be called a four game <i>home</i> win streak as all of those games were played in Utah. The Jazz have lost their last four road games against the Bulls, Bucks, Rockets, and Lakers. Tonight's game is the first in a three game road run for the Jazz and breaking that funk will be key to having a successful week.
Standing in their way is the Thunder. OKC has played two overtime games in a row, but had a day of rest after each of them and therefore shouldn't be feeling any ill effects. The month of January has been the best one yet for the team, and look for them to continue that with a strong performance tonight.
The Jazz and Thunder met back in November, and OKC got routed in the first half before coming back to lose by 7 in the second half. Carlos Boozer led the Jazz in scoring that game with 21. He's out for tonight's game, but the Jazz provided a pretty balanced attack back then so his loss won't be enough to turn the tide in favor of the Thunder.
For the Thunder to win tonight a couple of things are going to have to happen. First and foremost, they're going to have to keep this one close in the first half. OKC's shown the ability to come back from deficits, but we don't win when we do. Second, Jeff Green needs to get back on track. He's averaging less than 25% from the field over the past two games, and that's just not going to cut it. The Durant-Green tandem doesn't work when it's just Durant.
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