Jazz vs. Hornets Preview
NEW ORLEANS, LA (AP) – Following last month’s home win over the New Orleans Hornets, Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said the club considered Deron Williams and Chris Paul of virtually equal value during the 2005 draft.
Williams has been superior when he’s faced Paul in the NBA.
Looking to match a career high with his fourth straight game with 30 or more points, Williams will try to help the Jazz post their fifth consecutive victory in New Orleans on Friday night.
According to NBA odds and oddsmakers from online sports book Sportsbook.com have made the Jazz -1 point spread favorites for Friday’s game against the Hornets. Current NBA Public Betting Information shows that 93% of more than 555 bets for this game have been placed on the Jazz -1.
After watching Williams post his seventh consecutive double-double against the Hornets with 26 points, 11 assists and five steals in a 105-87 victory in Salt Lake City on Nov. 24, Sloan said the Jazz had a hard time choosing between Williams and Paul, the former Wake Forest star whom New Orleans drafted at No. 4, one spot later.
“We could have gone either way and it wouldn’t have mattered,” Sloan said after Utah beat the Hornets for the fourth straight time and Williams improved to 12-3 against New Orleans with Paul in the lineup.
Williams may now be playing his best basketball since skipping his final year of eligibility at Illinois. He has 96 points in the last three games after scoring 11 of his 30 in the fourth quarter of Monday’s 108-95 victory over Golden State.
The Western Conference Player of the Month for November, Williams is shooting 52.7 percent from the field over the last three games, and has a chance to score 30 or more in four straight for the first time since Feb. 5-11, 2009.
“I have to say this is as good as I have ever seen him play,” Sloan said Monday after Utah improved to 18-8. “He’s been sensational, really. He just took the game over and put it in his hands.”
The Hornets are all too familiar with what he can do. Williams, whose 55.4-percent shooting against New Orleans is his best versus any opponent, scored 27 with 16 assists in a 114-103 victory in the Jazz’s last visit to Louisiana on April 9.
Paul, who missed that matchup with a ligament tear in the middle finger of his right hand, scored 22 points with 11 assists as the Hornets (15-10) ended a season-high three-game skid Wednesday with a 94-91 victory over Sacramento. New Orleans trailed by as many as 23 points in the second half, but seldom-used guard Marcus Thornton scored 17 of his season-high 19 points after the break to spark the largest comeback in franchise history.
“He didn’t give up,” Paul said of Thornton, who hadn’t played in three of the previous four games. “He knows we’re going to need him and the next game might not call for 25 minutes from him, but we need that same energy and that was great for him.”
While the matchup of All-Star point guards will take center stage, the battle down low between Jazz big men Paul Millsap and Al Jefferson and New Orleans’ David West and Emeka Okafor could decide the winner of this matchup.
Millsap and Jefferson combined for 40 points and 14 rebounds in last month’s victory over New Orleans, which received 22 points and 15 boards from West and Okafor.
Paul contributed 17 points and nine assists as the Hornets lost for the 16th time in 20 matchups with the Jazz.
New Orleans’ last home win against Utah was a 110-98 victory Feb. 28, 2008.
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