Jazz vs. Nuggets player matchups

JAZZ PLAYOFF
PREVIEW
PLAYER MATCHUPS
POINT GUARD
Deron Williams vs. Chauncey Billups
M
uch like last postseason, it’s up-and-comer vs.
savvy veteran — but replace the Los Angeles
Lakers’ Derek Fisher with Billups, who averaged
a career-high 19.5 points this season. His resume: six NBA
teams, five All-Star Game selections, one NBA title and an
NBA Finals MVP award with Detroit in 2004. But youth is
on the side of Williams, a first-time All-Star who averaged
10.5 assists, third behind only New Orleans’ Chris Paul
(10.7) and Phoenix’s Steve Nash (11.0).
SHOOTING GUARD
Wesley Matthews vs. Arron Afflalo
I
t’s the undrafted rookie from Marquette against a 2007
late first-round pick from UCLA — though Matthews
is bound to spend time guarding Nuggets All-Star
small forward Carmelo Anthony, and Afflalo the same on
Williams. The Jazz are confident enough in Matthews’
defense and shooting range that in February they traded
then-starting shooting guard Ronnie Brewer to Memphis.
Ex-Detroit Piston Afflalo, a legit 3-point threat at 43.4 percent, made 75 starts in his first season with Denver.
SMALL FORWARD
M
C.J. Miles vs. Carmelo Anthony
iles opened the season sidelined by shootinghand thumb surgery, the result of a training camp
mishap. He ended it back in the starting spot he
held last season, though only because of Andrei Kirilenko’s
strained calf. He’s streaky, but can get on a roll. Three-time
All-Star Anthony’s scoring average of 28.2 per game this
season is just shy of his 2006-07 career high, but his shooting (44.3) is down about five percent from his career best.
POWER FORWARD
J
Carlos Boozer vs. Kenyon Martin
azz scoring and rebounding leader Boozer missed
Utah’s regular-season finale against Phoenix with
a strained oblique; Martin has played in just three
games after missing 18 because of his tendinitis-plagued
left knee. Boozer’s career-high 55 double-doubles were
third-most in the NBA this season, trailing only Zach
Randolph of Memphis (57) and Orlando’s Dwight Howard
(64). The gritty Martin is a low double-digit scorer, but
he’s good for almost 10 boards a game. Health could tip
this battle.
CENTER
O
Mehmet Okur vs. Nenê
kur has been bothered by Achilles’ tendinitis late in
the season, but the Jazz’s outside-shooting center
— a full-time starter for five straight seasons in
Utah — finished strong with a 23-point showing Tuesday
at Golden State and a first-quarter stretch Wednesday vs.
Phoenix in which he scored 14 straight Jazz points. Nenê,
much more of a force inside, has averaged 13-plus points
and seven-plus rebounds in both of two seasons after winning a fight with testicular cancer.
BENCH
U
Paul Millsap, Kyle Korver and Ronnie Price
vs. Chris Andersen, J.R. Smith, Ty Lawson et al
tah’s bench is decidedly thin, especially because Kirilenko — perhaps the Jazz’s best hope defending
Anthony — will miss the series after reinjuring his calf on Thursday. The Jazz need the Millsap who
had a career-high 24 rebounds Tuesday, not the one with just seven points and seven boards when
Boozer was out Wednesday. Korver shot an NBA-record 53.6 percent from 3-point range this season. Price averaged 13.4 minutes as Williams’ backup this season, but that may dip in the postseason. No one else on Utah’s
bench — Sundiata Gaines, Othyus Jeffers, Kyrylo Fesenko, Kosta Koufos — has playoff experience.
Andersen’s length and shot blocking (1.88 per game) gives the Jazz fits, as does the quickness of backup point
Lawson, who could see time on Williams as well. Smith is the wild card, a chucker who can do in an opponent
with a hot streak or shoot the Nuggets right out of a game.
COACHES
S
Jerry Sloan vs. George Karl/Adrian Dantley
loan, inducted last offseason into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, is the NBA’s fourth-winningest
coach. He coaxed 53 victories out a team whose season could have been a disaster because of Boozer’s
pending free agency. But the Jazz blew a shot at finishing third in the NBA’s Western Conference by losing their finale with Phoenix.
Karl is expected to miss the entire series while battling throat and neck cancer, so assistant Dantley steps
into the top spot. Ex-Jazz star Dantley’s retired number hangs in the rafters of EnergySolutions Arena, and he
aspires to be a head coach, but the Nuggets are just 11-8 since he took over.
— Tim Buckley