And tonight is one of them.  For an early regular seson game this one has a little extra juice.  TNT is here, division rivals with nearly identical records, Oden is healthy and Boozer is faking it still so he doesn't get embarrased by Oden.  A win tonight would give the Jazz at 2-0 record against the Blazers for the season series and even up the records for the year 15-9 each.  So in anticipation of tonights big divisional clash we got together with our Blazer friends at BustaBucket.com.  The following is their response to some questions I posed to them, you can see their questions to me and my response to them over at www.bustabucket.com later today. 

Question: Do you want Boozer?  Who would you trade for him?  His so-called strained hip is getting old.  I think that the Jazz are trying to move him secretly while they can. 

Answer: We don't want Boozer.  He's no doubt a great player but I think his mental make-up wouldn't fit in with the current Blazer team.  There's just something about him, the loyalty question comes into play regarding his departure from Cleveland and I just don't have a good feeling about him.  On the other hand, we could use an aggressive low post presence who is more physical than Frye or Aldridge.  It must be nice to have a guy like Paul Millsap waiting in the wings just in case Boozer was to get traded.

Question: What is Blazer Nations expectation for Oden?  Who in history would you compare him to?  I say he is the next coming of Dikembe Mutombo, which is not a bad thing at all, just not as big as the hype he gets nationally.

Answer: I think for most fans the expectations haven't changed yet if you're looking at the big picture.  Oden hasn't been Dwight Howard this year but he has had flashes of brilliance and he's continuing to get acclamated to the NBA game. I think it can't be stressed enough how long it's been since he's really played prior to this season.  He had the entire year off last year, he was injured at Ohio State and then in high school he never faced any kind of real talent.  I think this year he'll learn to guard other giants of the league and next year will be the real testing ground to see whether expectations are really being met.

Question: Are there any "Jail" Blazers left on this team?  It seems to me that this is a very likeable team with no real knuckle-heads.

Answer:  I've noticed remnants of "Jailblazer" talk around the league this year, a lot of blogs and people still think that is a semi valid statement.  Frankly, it doesn't exist anymore.  Travis Outlaw, the only guy on the team who's from that era had nothing to do with the downfall. We have a group of incredibly likable guys who not only don't get into trouble, they are becoming community contributors in many ways.  They may end up being one of the most likable NBA teams unless they start winning championships, in which case everyone will probably hate them!

Question: I feel that the Blazers are a good point guard away from being serious contenders.  Having said that would you trade Brandon Roy for Deron Williams strait up?

Answer:  Interesting question.  There is no doubt that Deron Williams is a stud.  I personally love his game and would love to have him on my team.  If I were a third party observer looking at that trade and looking at the pieces Portland has, I'd probably strongly consider it.  Especially since Rudy Fernandez could play that shooting guard spot.  All that said, there is no way we'd do the trade.  Brandon Roy is the face of the Trail Blazers.  Not only is he the extension of the coach but he is the team leader, the clutch player, & All-Star all wrapped into one.  He's become somewhat of a legend already and I don't think there is one true Blazer fan who could part with him.

Question: What would Blazer fan consider a successful season?  Making the playoffs?  Winning a series or two? Conference Finals?  For the Jazz I think we would all say it's Western Conference finals or bust.

Answer: A successful season for the Blazers would probably be getting to the 1st round of the playoffs and at the very least, playing a competitive series.  What I mean is, if we win the first round of the playoffs, that would be amazing and would exceed expectations.  But if we lost badly in the first round, I think it would leave bad feelings and probably would be viewed as a failure.  Bottom line, we need to get to the playoffs, play well, then whatever happens happens.  The Portland long-term goal is more important than just this season.

Great Defense!

Another roller-coaster week for the Jazz.  After a dominating victory over the Dinos (I'm not going to mention the Heat game, it's too painful) there was an uber-close game in Phoenix and a come-from-behind victory in Minnesota, a game that, frankly, we had no business winning.  Why couldn't the Phoenix trade have gone down before we played them?  Diaw hit a HUGE three in that game to go along with 6 rebounds and 4 assists. Raja, on the other hand, well, he was a dud.  So the Jazz went 2-2, but let's see where they rank among the league's best:

ESPN: 14 (+1)

FOX Sports: 10 (no change)

Sports Illustrated.com: 12 (-4)

NBA.com: 14 (-2)

USA Today: 10 (-3)

BLOGGERS: 8 (no change)

High - 8

Low - 14

Average - 11.3

The Jazz are 2.5 point favorites tonight, with an O/U of 194.  The Jazz look amazing one night (TOR, MEM, @SAC) then dreadful on other nights (@SAS, MIA, NJN) so I'm not surprised the line is so low.  The Blazers are coming off a Hedo off-the-glass game winning three, so I don't know if they'll be pissed or demoralized.  Either way, tonight's game should be one to watch.  A battle between division rivals, the young up-start Blazers versus the hardnosed Jazz.  If Utah can keep the turnovers under 16 and limit the Blazer's fast-break points and offensive rebounds (basically everything they screwed up on in Minnesota) I see the Jazz covering.  As for the O/U, I can see this game being a 92-87 defensive battle, or just as easily a 113-108 explosion.  I'll take the middle ground, Jazz win 103-99.

Blazer's Edge
Bust A Bucket (Newest member of the Bloguin Team! Welcome!)

I don't know how the Jazz came away with a win in Minnesota last night and I don't care why.  A win on the road is a win on the road, especially for the Jazz and especially when its against Minnesota.  (How pathetic is that? The Jazz should be hammering this team but instead are just squeaking out a win they did not deserve and we are greatful for it.) It was an ugly game with no flow because the refs thought it would be better to call a foul every other time the ball crossed mid court regardless of what team it was.  Thank goodness Kevin Love sucks at the free throw line.  Bottom line is that the T-Wolves lost this game more than the Jazz won it.  Just look at these stats: The Jazz gave up 19 offensive rebounds, turned the ball over 21 times and had 30 fouls in the game.  AK and D-Will go a combined 4-21 for the game and Deron is still setting up Al Jefferson for blocks like he is hitting a baseball off a tee.  Classic crappy road effort that usually equals a big loss, but some how last night it was just enough to win.  Go figure.

"Listen here you pansies, there are only 3,000 fans here tonight so it's not like this is a real road game..."

In other news - ESPN is giving Jerry Sloan the Royal treatment today.  Here are a few of thinks:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=adande_ja&page=Sloan-081209
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?page=sloan20-081210
http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-37-30/Consistency-Isn-t-So-Boring.html

When its all said and done Jerry will go down as one of the very best coaches ever and maybe this will be the year that he gets some harware for it.  I for hope he has another 5 years in him to see if this group can get it for him.

Yesterday was the actual day, but tonight is Sloan's first game entering his 21st year of coaching the Jazz.  Here are some links to good Sloan stories:

Siler and Luhm blog

J.A. Adande

NBA.com (also has a preview of tonight's game)

Ross Siler (Trib article)

Jody Genessy (Des News)

Most of the quotes are the same, and they're classic Sloan-isms.

I can't speak for all of TBJ here, but my thoughts on Sloan have really changed over the last 12 years (my time as a true Jazz fan).  He was the ROCK of the organization, the same way that LaVell Edwards was at BYU, or Bobby Cox with the Braves.  Sloan certainly has a point when he says that his tenure is more a testament of the loyaly of Larry Miller.  When times got tough after Stockton and Malone left (42-40, 26-56, 41-41) Miller didn't panic as many teams would have.  I am guilty of losing faith in Sloan during the 26-56 season.  My belief was that as good a coach as Sloan is/was, he wasn't the right coach for that team.  A bunch of young, athletic guys who, I felt, should have been playing Nellie-ball (run, run, run, run and shoot).  I'm glad that Miller didnt feel the same way.  Despite his reluctance to give serious minutes to rookies, players like CJ Miles, Ronnie Brewer, AK, and Deron have really developed into gamers.  Even Morris Almond has seen some playing time lately, which may speak more to his work ethic than anything considering Fes is still glued to the bench.  But that's Sloan's M.O., if you work hard and try to better your game, he'll reward that.  Just look at Jarron Collins, that guy has almost no talent anymore, but he works hard and plays hard, which is all Sloan asks.  No one can doubt that Sloan gets the most out of his players, because the guys that don't give their all don't get playing time.

In my eyes, he's "earned" coach of the year at least 3 times, even if he hasn't actually won.  But if Sloan doesn't care about awards, then I won't either.  You don't need a trophy to be recognized as one of the greats.  My hat is off to Sloan, and when the Jazz get a new coach I hope that fans will appreciate him the way that we appreciated Stockton more after enduring the Raul Lopez and Keith McCleod years.

Anyway, on to the game tonight:

This will be the Jazz's second game against a new head coach.  If McHale has managed to teach Jefferson all his post moves, he should be in for a big day.  However, after 2 road losses to this team last year, the Jazz will NOT be taking this team lightly.  Utah is a 5 point favorite and I expect them to cover.  Deron and AK have had 3 days of rest and Harpring has had time to think about his stinker of a game in Phoenix.  Jazz win 105-97.

Finally, after 21 games we got a glimpse of the old D-Will.  His first quarter was vintage stuff, driving to hole with authority, hitting shots from all over the court and playing with that "We are going to beat you down and you will like it" attitude that has been missing for the last 6 or 7 games since he came back.  There was never a let up, no taking a quarter off, the Jazz finally showed a full effort for 48 minutes and was beautiful to watch.  So I say it again, Welcome back D-Will, we missed you.

"Not tonight fellas, I'm back!"

Another gem from Mr. Simmons today.  Apparently he intentionally compared Deron's 2-game stats with Chris Paul's stats.  From his column today:

The highlight of my Thanksgiving weekend: Including a humorous comparison in last week's NBA column about Deron Williams' 2008-09 stats versus Chris Paul's 2008-09 stats (even though Williams had played only two games), hoping to incite a barrage of "That's not fair, Williams was hurt!" e-mails from the trigger-happy Jazz fans ... and nearly 900 e-mails and eight days later, they're still sending angry e-mails. Utah fans are the best. They really are. As far as inferiority complexes go, they might be the Joe Pesci of NBA fan bases. They're funny.

This reminds me of the kind of response you get when you catch someone in a bad lie.

"I thought you said that you had courtside seats to the game tonight?"

"Oh, yeah, about that...totally joking!"

Whatever Bill.  I've said before that Jazz fans are best served by ignoring his stupid comparisons and analogies.  This is an argument that we cannot win, not because he's right and we're wrong, but because he will always have the last say and will make a joke to get people to agree with him.  Ignore him and soon enough he will fade away into obscurity like Stephen A. Smith did.

I'm not going to link to the article, but I'm sure if you're resourceful you can find it on your own.

In today's TrueHoop bullets, Henry Abbott points out an article from Neil Payne on the basketball-reference blog.  Payne addresses the all-too-common stance by many people that Isiah Thomas was a better point guard than John Stockton.  We all know better, and Payne makes a persuasive argument that we should be familiar with when people start talking about the all-time greats.  Here's an excerpt:

So why do people almost universally consider Thomas to be better than Stockton when they give their all-time point guard rankings? Stockton was more durable, more consistent, a better pure PG, more productive (both cumulatively and on a per-minute basis), and was even better in the playoffs, where Stock played a remarkable 182 career games.

Be sure to read the whole thing here.

After yesterday's loss I figured some good highlight reel footage would raise everyone's spirits a little.  Watch for a couple Jazz plays on this video of the Top 10 Dunks from November.