Preview: Warriors at Jazz

After getting spanked at home against the Spurs, the Warriors (7-6) travel to Utah to take on the Jazz (6-7). The Warriors are desperate for a win to stay above .500.

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This is the second time the Warriors have faced the Jazz this season. In the first contest back on November 4th the Jazz took out the Dubs in Oakland 91-85. A big reason for the loss was the great play of Mehmet Okur. Okur torched the Warriors for 23 points and 14 boards. He is having his finest season as a pro, but the Warriors can not allow Okur to have such a big game this time around.

The Warriors need a change in their starting lineup. They continue to get next to nothing out of Dunleavy's 30 minutes a game. The obvious solution would be to plug in Pietrus as a starter and see how he fares with Dunleavy hopefully able to bring something off the bench. Unfortunately with MP2 sidelined for a few weeks, this isn't feasible.

It's time to throw Ike Diogu in as a starter in place of Dunleavy. Let's see what the kid's got. We already know what Dunleavy's got and it ain't much. The Jazz frontline is big and slow, but Okur and Harping are good shooters. It is imperative that the Warriors shut down their frontcourt and outscore them. This is an ideal matchup for the Warriors to go with an Ike-Troy-Adonal frontcourt. They won't get beat by any quick athletic players and they can get physical with the Jazz forwards and centers.

Look for Boom Dizzle and JRich to put their struggles against the Spurs behind them and come up big tonight. If I were Deron Williams and Gordan Giricek, I'd be hiding in the mountains of Utah.

We also wanted to send some luv over to the Jazz fans. Why you ask? Look at what it says outside the Delta Center in Salt Lake City (click pic to enlarge):

Golden State Warriors BLOG representing in the SLC!