When: 6:00 PM EST; Sunday, March 8th, 2015
Where: Barclays Center; Brooklyn, NY
TV: YES
Simply put, the Nets are in dire straits right now. They, having lost their last two games, find themselves two games and a whole bunch of teams out of the Eastern Conference playoff picture. The latest loss, a 108-100 overtime defeat at home to Phoenix on Friday, was especially brutal, as the Nets had a 15-point lead with less than six minutes to play and promptly coughed it up.
Anyway, the Suns loss and Hornets loss–from a few days earlier–both sting a lot but are behind the Nets and there’s nothing now they can do to make up for them except with wins. They have a good chance at doing just that today, as the young Jazz–along with former Net Derrick Favors–head to Brooklyn.
Utah dominated the only other matchup between these teams in the 2014-15 season, winning 108-73 on January 24th in Salt Lake City. Brooklyn, which lost by 39 in LA to the Clippers two days before, were no match for Utah–who traded Deron Williams for a package of players, including Favors, to the then-New Jersey Nets back in 2011–and Gordon Hayward, who scored a game-high 24 points and has developed into a star this year.
Probable Lineups
UTA- Dante Exum (PG), Joe Ingles (SG), Gordon Hayward (SF), Derrick Favors (PF), Rudy Gobert (C)
BKN- Deron Williams (PG), Markel Brown (SG), Joe Johnson (SF), Thaddeus Young (PF), Brook Lopez (C)
Final Thoughts
Brooklyn is 1-2 so far on this homestand, with two games left. Losses to Utah and New Orleans on Tuesday would be as close to a death knell for this team in the congested fight for the No. 8 seed, so today’s game is crucial, maybe more so than the next few games. Also, dropping both contests with the rebuilding Jazz–while also falling to 11 games under .500–would not be a good look at all.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
