Houston Rockets vs. Utah Jazz game preview

The last time these teams met, the Rockets were on a back-to-back after losing to the Lakers and the Jazz had had a day off.

Tonight, the roles are reversed and the Rockets have the previous night off with the Jazz playing the Thunder Friday night.

Also, the cheerleader pictures are down since the Rockets finally reversed the reverse jinx. They'll come back if they're needed. As of right now though, the Rockets are in the middle of a six game schedule from hell.

The Thunder game was the first one. Tonight is game 2, then it's LAL, @SA, DAL, SA. Sure, four of the five games are at home, but it's a rough stretch against some veteran teams (Spurs twice really sucks) for a young team. I keep saying that we'll learn a lot about the Rockets after they go on the road for long stretches, but this will also be a barometer. If the Rockets go 0-5 in here, that wouldn't be the end of the world. Most important is how they play these five games.

Saturday preview, so it's One Sentence Preview Day!

Tip off is at 7pm CST.

Update: Friedman retweeted David Locke, who said that Marvin Williams won't play and Derrick Favors is doubtful.

Matchups:

Point Guard: Jeremy Lin vs. Jamaal Tinsley

Mo Williams is out, so Tinsley starts and gets roasted by a surging Lin.

Advantage: Rockets

Shooting Guard: James Harden vs. Randy Foye

Foye plays better in the Jazz losses than their wins, so I hope he's their leading scorer tonight.

Advantage: Rockets

Small Forward: Chandler Parsons vs. Marvin Williams

I love the Play 60 commercial with Cam Newton so much that I'm not even going to talk about this matchup.

Bonus second sentence: Don't know if Parsons will play, but Delfino is back at practice so that's something.

Advantage: Rockets

Power Forward: Patrick Patterson vs. Paul Millsap

The Jazz aren't running that "three big" lineup currently, which is great news for the Bears Rockets.

Advantage: Jazz

Center: Omer Asik vs. Al Jefferson

Once again, look for this matchup to be the deciding factor in this contest.

Advantage: Jazz

Bench

Rockets: Toney Douglas, Carlos Delfino (?), Marcus Morris, Greg Smith

Jazz: Derrick Favors, DeMarre Carroll, Enes Kanter, Gordon Hayward

Advantage: Jazz

Prediction: Rockets lose a close one, 99-95

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