Phoenix Suns at Utah Jazz 2011 NBA Preview, Odds, and Predictions: Point guard Steve Nash will lead the Phoenix Suns on the road to the Energy Solutions Arena to take on first game head coach Tyrone Corbin and the Utah Jazz on Friday Night at 10:30 PM ET on ESPN. The Suns enter the game winning their last 2 leaving them at 25-25 2nd in the Pacific while Utah has lost one game and their coach and enter at 31-23 3rd in the Northwest. A rift between point guard Deron Williams seemed to have brought Utah Head coach Jerry Sloan to the point that he felt it time to move on after 23 seasons the longest tenure of any of the major sports and 1,221 wins third all time.
“I had a feeling this time was the time to move on,” an emotional Sloan said. “(That’s) a long time to be in one organization. Again, I’ve been blessed. Today is a new day. When I get this over with, I’ll feel better. My time is up and it’s time to move on.” Williams was quick to deflect the blame. “I would never force coach Sloan out of Utah. He’s meant more to this town, more to this organization than I have by far. I would have asked out of Utah first,” Williams said. Sloan has been replaced by former player and assistant Tyrone Corbin on a permanent basis not and interim. The odds makers at BetUS have the Utah Jazz a -6 point favorite at home against the Phoenix Suns.
The Jazz are coming off a home loss 91-86 to the Chicago Bulls leaving them at 24-29-1 ATS for the season. Center Al Jefferson led the Jazz with 26 points and 8 rebounds while all 5 starters scored in double digits. Williams added 11 points and dished out 12 assist while grabbing 4 rebounds. The total has gone UNDER in 4 of last 6 games when playing at home against Phoenix. Vegas odds makers have the Utah Jazz +2100 to win the 2010-2011 NBA Championship.
The Suns are coming off a victory 112-88 at home over the Golden State Warriors to move them to 23-26-1 ATS for the season. Steve Nash led the Suns with 18 points and 11 assists while Channing Frye added 17 points and pulled down 9 rebounds in the victory. “We’d like to be at about .650 but we have a lot of work to do,” Phoenix coach Alvin Gentry said. “I thought we did a good job. We took care of business right from the start.” Vegas odds makers have the over/under for the total score at 208 1/2 points combined of the Utah Jazz and Phoenix Suns.
I predict a Suns upset win on the road!