Brooklyn Nets vs. Utah Jazz Pre-Game Report

Feb 27, 2016; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Brooklyn Nets guard Bojan Bogdanovic (44) drives to the hoop against Utah Jazz forward Derrick Favors (15) and guard Raul Neto (25) in the third quarter at Vivint Smart Home Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Swinger-USA TODAY Sports

The Brooklyn Nets look to start off 2017 on the right foot as they host the Utah Jazz back at home.

Happy New Year, Nets fans! Tonight, the Brooklyn Nets take their first shot at making 2017 better than 2016 was, as they play host to the Jazz.

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The 2016 portion of the season was certainly one the Nets want to forget about – they posted an 8-24 record – good for last in the Eastern Conference – and have struggled as starting point guard Jeremy Lin has had troubles staying healthy.

But luckily for the Nets, the new year brings a fresh start to the Brooklyn squad. The Jazz, however, have plans to spoil the new year for the Nets.

Utah has had an impressive season to this point. They’re 21-13, which puts them at fourth in the Western Conference, and they are holding their opponents to an NBA-low 94.7 points per game.

The matchup between the two teams is the first of two this season. The last time they faced off was in February 2016, when the Nets snuck out in a two-point victory.

Feb 27, 2016; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Utah Jazz forward Chris Johnson (23) takes a shot against Brooklyn Nets center Brook Lopez (11) in the fourth quarter at Vivint Smart Home Arena. The Brooklyn Nets defeated the Utah Jazz 98-96. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Swinger-USA TODAY Sports

Keys to the game

Score, score, score

Here’s a list of the opponents’ points scored in the last four Jazz losses: 104, 94, 104, 106 – and two of those scores were posted by the Golden State Warriors.

With that being said, it’s evident that an offensive mirage is usually not needed to defeat the Jazz. Heck, even the Golden State Warriors, the highest scoring team in the NBA, won twice without topping 110.

MUST READ: Nets’ Top 10 Moments of 2016

So even though a strong defensive performance would be a key to the game in most cases, in the Nets’ case, a strong offensive performance might be what gets the job done.

As we all know, the Nets have been playing poor defense all season. Their offense, on the other hand, hasn’t been nearly as terrible, and has been far more consistent.

It seems that all the Nets need to do to win this one is to just score at will. Again, the Jazz are certainly one of the better defenses in the league, but it’s more likely that the Nets will score a lot of points than they’ll be able to lock down the Jazz (which still shouldn’t be too much of an issue).

I think that 110 or-so points will win this game for the Nets, considering the Jazz only scored more than that once since December 2. The only question is whether or not they can get there.

Solid showing from Sean Kilpatrick

I tweeted this earlier in the week – Sean Kilpatrick has been a big X-Factor for the Nets.