Phoenix Suns v Utah Jazz 12/31 Game Preview

Phoenix Suns (9-22) v Utah Jazz (20-13)

Friday12/31/2016 6pm
Vivint Smart Home Arena, Salt Lake City, UT
Fox Sports Arizona/Arizona Sports 98.7FM

Season Series – Utah leads 1-0
All-Time Series – Phoenix leads 91-83
Last Matchup – December 6, 2016, Utah won 112-105
Suns’ Last Game – Win over the Toronto Raptors 99-91
Jazz’ Last Game – Win over the Philadelphia 76ers 100-83
Suns’ Scoring Averages – PTS/G: 106.8 (8th of 30) Opp PTS/G: 113.6 (29th of 30)
Jazz’ Scoring Averages – PTS/G: 99.2 (24th of 30) Opp PTS/G: 95.0 (1st of 30)

Preview

Phoenix Suns

The Phoenix Suns earned their biggest win of the season two nights ago against the 2nd best team in the Eastern Conference, the Toronto Raptors. Led by a big night from Eric Bledsoe, Phoenix’s defense held Toronto in check and after a lackluster first quarter, the Suns were able to hang on to defeat the Raptors, their second win in their last four games. For a full recap and opinions by the Valley of the Suns, read here…Even with a good defensive win, the Suns are still the 5th worst defensive team in the NBA with a 110.9 DRtg, and the second worst opponents points per game with 113.6, still the franchises worst opponents points per game average since 1969-70…Due mainly to the team’s over abundance of fouling – the league worst with 25.5, 1.5 more per game than second worst Memphis – Suns opponents also average more free throws than any other team with 29.3…Although the Suns can do absolutely nothing to defend a free throw, their opponents shoot the second best free throw percentage in the league at 78.8%…Phoenix’s opponent shooting percentage is 46.7%, less than one percent better than league worst Los Angeles Lakers, and their opponent 3PT% is second worst in the league with 38.4%, behind only the Dallas Mavericks…Phoenix allows the most opponent points off of fastbreaks with 17.5 per game. The Utah Jazz allow the fewest, with 10.0. On the flip side, the Suns average 18.5 fastbreak points per game, second in the NBA, and the Jazz average the second worst with 7.6…The Suns are second in the league in points off turnovers with 18.9 per game, whereas Utah averages the third fewest with 14.0…Only 3% of the Suns’ offensive possessions are with a post up, .2% ahead of league lowest Houston…After a 22 point performance against the Raptors, Eric Bledsoe is back up to 20.0 per game, leading the Suns. His assists totals have been hovering at around 5.5 all season, where they sit right now, but his rebound average has dropped .5 per game recently to 5.0. He is still shooting a less than desired, 29.7% from three…Devin Booker is averaging 18.8 points per game, however, that is more an account of his high volume shooting. While averaging 32.3% from beyond the arc and only 40.1% from the field, he leads the team in shot attempts per game with 17.1, nearly two more per game than 45.5% field goal shooter, Bledsoe…Phoenix has three scorers who average over 20pts per 36 minutes, with Eric Bledsoe (22.3), Devin Booker (20.5), and Brandon Knight (20.1)…Jared Dudley has been MIA for the past three games with three consecutive DNP-CDs…For an opinion on that, read here.

Utah Jazz

The Utah Jazz are a very good shooting team with a 53.1% eFG%, 4th best behind Golden State, Houston, and Cleveland…Thy hold the league’s lowest opponent’s eFG% with 47.7%. The Suns are 26th overall with a 52.5% opponent eFG%…While the Suns have the league’s worst assists per game average with 18.5, the Utah Jazz have the league best opponents assists per game rate with 17.6. Phoenix has never had the league-worst assists rate in the past 48 seasons. The Jazz average the second least amount of assists per game with 19.2…Utah has the league’s worst steals rate with 6.2 per game, 2.6 behind the Suns who are the 3rd best…While Phoenix has the second highest FGA’s per game in the NBA with 88.5, the Jazz are the league worst with 77.0, 4.9 behind second fewest, San Antonio…The Jazz are last in the league in second chance points with 10.1 and third worst in points off turnovers with only 14.0, compared to Phoenix’s 18.9 PoT…Utah’s opponent FG% is 3rd overall with 43.0%. Phoenix allows the 5th worst percentage with 46.7%…The Jazz get the 3rd fewest deflections per game with only 13.3…They recover the 5th fewest loose balls at 5.0 per game…They draw the fewest charges per game at .15…Only 9% of Utah’s possessions come in transition, the second fewest in the NBA, although when in transition, they are the league’s best FG% team with 60.8% and have the league’s best eFG% with 66.5% scoring on a league best 57.3% of transition opportunities…Utah takes the second most spot up shots in the league at 23.3%, Phoenix takes the 5th fewest with 17.2%…Gordon Hayward is playing his way into a max contract averaging 22.3 points per game, 6.2 rebounds, and 3.7 assists. He is also shooting a decent 35.6% from beyond the arc, although he has a 50.5% eFG%…Rudy Gobert is having a solid season with 12.3 points and 11.9 rebounds per game recording 22 double-doubles thus far including 11 in a row before falling one point short of a 12th consecutive against Philadelphia on Friday night. He is also tied for the league lead in blocked shots with 2.6 per game. Gobert sports a fantastic 69.5% FG%…George Hill, who hasn’t played in several weeks, leads the team in assists per game with 4.3. Taking his averages out of the conversation, Hayward leads Utah with his 3.7…