The Grizzlies host the Utah Jazz at FedExForum tonight. Tip-off is at 7 p.m. and I’ll be chiming in live at @FlyerGrizBlog. Until then, three thoughts on tonight’s game:
1. The Return of O.J. Mayo: The unavoidable subplot that might overshadow the game tonight is the return of O.J. Mayo to the lineup. The mid-air altercation between Mayo and Tony Allen has resulted in a gambling ban by the Grizzlies and a fine levied against Allen, but the combatants have allegedly made nice and are ready to get back to business. Everyone will obviously be looking to see any lingering physical effects Mayo might still exhibit, but the real story will be how Mayo plays, whether Lionel Hollins will put Mayo and Allen on the floor together (I think he should), and, if he does, how they fare.
2. Closer Than it Looks?: The Utah Jazz are a perennial playoff team, are currently in line for a Top 4 playoff seed, are 7.5 games ahead of the Grizzlies in the standings, and are 2-0 on the Griz so far this season. All that looks daunting, but I’m not sure the difference between these two teams is that big.
It certainly it didn’t look that way in the last meeting, where the Griz played the Jazz close deep into the fourth quarter in Salt Lake City, without Rudy Gay, and with Tony Allen playing only 14 generally ineffective minutes, only to come up short, 98-92.
The Jazz boast a top five head coach and a top five point guard, and that combination means an awful lot, but the rest of the roster is not that imposing, with a talented, but under-sized and sub-all-star frontcourt tandem of Paul Millsap and Al Jefferson, the latter of which has been a little disappointing for the Jazz. The frontcourt depth is sketchy. The wings (Andrei Kirilenko, C.J. Miles, Raja Bell, Gordon, Hayward).
