The beginning of 2010 was the last time the Utah Jazz
won in Dallas, and the end of that year was their most
recent winning streak of at least seven games.
While trying to remain one of the NBA's hottest teams,
the Jazz can simultaneously end both of those droughts
when they visit the Mavericks on Tuesday night.
The opening three months of the season brought mostly
headaches for Utah (25-25), but the Jazz have finally
found a rhythm with six straight wins - the league's
second longest current streak behind Golden State's nine.
Utah has its first winning streak of more than two games
this season to reach .500 for the first time since
mid-December - doing it in very Jazz-like fashion.
Opponents have averaged 85 points while shooting
40.7 percent with a 29.5 mark from 3-point range. The
defense has been there all season for the Jazz, who rank
toward the top of the league allowing 95.9 points per
game, but they have been especially stingy of late by
holding each of their last eight opponents to fewer
than 100 points.
Utah never trailed at Phoenix on Saturday and led by
as many as 23 points before holding on for a 98-89 victory,
its only road win during the streak to improve to 8-15
away from home.
It was also their third straight game holding an opponent
to fewer than 92 points which has resulted in a 21-0
record this season.
"I want us to be consistent," coach Quin Snyder said.
"(Saturday's) game was (what) a microcosm of the season
can look like where you play real well and then you don't
play so good. We have been playing well or better."
Though the Jazz have averaged 89 points the last three
games on 42.4 percent shooting, their defense has been
good enough to put them in position for their first
seven-game winning streak since Nov. 20-Dec. 1, 2010
- a run that was snapped with a 93-81 home loss to the
Mavericks two days later.
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That defeat started a stretch of 16 Dallas wins in the
last 20 games of this series, including nine of the last 10.
Utah has lost its last 10 games in Dallas since a win
on Jan. 9, 2010, and is 2-22 there dating to March 8, 2003
- including a 102-93 loss on Nov. 20.
Dallas (29-25) is 15-10 at home, though it lost two in a
row there as part of last week's three-game skid. The
Mavericks snapped the slump with Saturday's 114-110 overtime
victory at Memphis, scoring over 100 points for the first
time in six games.
Chandler Parsons followed up a six-point showing in Friday's
embarrassing 116-90 home loss to San Antonio with 26 on
10-of-15 shooting against the Grizzlies. Dallas scored just
26 points in the first half against the Spurs to follow
three consecutive games of shooting under 40 percent.
While Utah has a Wednesday game at New Orleans left
before the All-Star break, Dallas closes its first half
on Tuesday.
"It's important to get this game because it is the last
game and because we want to take some momentum into the
break," coach Rick Carlisle said at Monday's practice.
"But we're not thinking about the result, we're thinking
about the process."
上一次爵士在達拉斯帶走勝利時已經是2010年初了，
不過現在他們正努力維持著成為NBA可怕的連勝隊伍
之一，而他們正打算藉由明天的比賽同時達成這兩個
目的。
本季的前三個月，對爵士而言是個掙扎賽季，他們僅
僅拿下了25勝25敗，但他們終於找回了節奏，維持著
目前聯盟第二長的六連勝（話說我們好像也有六連勝
過？）ps:本季第一為勇士的九連勝。而這也是爵士本
季第一次超過二連勝。
上一季爵士的防守，讓對手平均得到85分，40.7%的FG
和29.5%的三分命中率－－這是爵士的特色，本季他們
讓對手平均得到95.9分，仍然屬於聯盟頂尖。
上一場對上太陽的比賽，爵士整場比賽從未落後，最大
領先達到23分，最後以98-89贏下比賽，雖然這也只讓
他們的客場戰績達到8勝15敗而已，但卻是連續第三場
讓對手得分低於92分的比賽。
爵士教練Quin Snyder：「我希望我們保持專注，對上
太陽的比賽就像是本季的縮影，我們知道我們哪裡打得
好，哪裡表現得不如預期，於是我們的表現漸入佳境。」
儘管前三場比賽爵士僅以42.4%的FG得到平均89分，他們
的防守仍然帶領他們拿下這波連勝。
時間拉回2010，由擊敗爵士開始，小牛接下來對上爵士的
20場比賽中拿下了16場－最後10場中贏了9場－，而爵士
則在小牛主場的比賽中苦吞10連敗。
小牛本季主場為15勝10敗，雖然輸掉了最近了連續三場主
場比賽中的前兩場，不過在最後一場對上灰熊的比賽中拿
到了最近6場比賽中的首度破百（可是瑞凡，打延長賽）。
卡帥：「這場比賽非常重要，不只是因為這是明星賽前最
後一場比賽，更是因為我們想要帶著勝利休息，然而我們
並不一味的追求結果，更重要的是過程。」