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Picking up right where they left off, Oklahoma started this year's NBA campaign with an impressive double-digit win over the Chicago Bulls earlier this week. Thus, Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder will try to hold on to their positive momentum when they meet the Utah Jazz on Monday at midnight GMT.

Without any doubts, very few expected the Jazz to start the season with two losses after an extremely strong performance in the preseason. More specifically, Utah won eight straight in the preseason and it seemed like off-season acquisition Al Jefferson was being integrated nicely as their new low-post presence. Yet, coach Jerry Sloan's squad lost two in a row versus the Denver Nuggets and Phoenix Suns and showed significant shortcomings at the defensive end of the floor. Unfortunately for the Jazz, the team around Deron Williams is about to face another tough challenge when they play the Thunder on the road on Monday night.

You can watch all games of the Utah Jazz and Oklahoma City Thunder right here on www.watchlivenba.com, the home of NBA live streaming.

Posted: 1st January 2010

Even though the Utah Jazz were hoping to establish themselves in the upper echelon of the league in 2009-10, things have not worked out as well as the franchise was hoping for. Hoping to steal one on the road, Deron Williams and the Jazz will head to Oklahoma to face the Thunder on Friday at 1 a.m. GMT.

Unlike Utah, Oklahoma is very content with the performance of Kevin Durant and company thus far. More precisely, the Thunder is holding on to a 15-14 record and might be able to stay in the playoff race down the stretch. Given the fact that they struggled to finish last year’s NBA campaign with more than 20 wins, Scott Brooks’ squad could very well turn out to be the most improved team in 2009-10. Most importantly, Oklahoma City Thunder was able to perform on the road as they posted a 7-7 record away from home. Likewise, the Thunder played much better defense than in the past and managed to hold their opponents to just 96 points per contest. On the other end of the floor, Kevin Durant led all scores and averaged no less than 27.8 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.6 steals per game. That said, the Thunder had considerable problems shooting from long range and is among the worst 3-point shooting teams in the league at just 32% from beyond the arc.

In contrast, the Jazz got off to a reasonably decent start but slowed down quite a bit over the last two weeks. Winning just five of their last ten, Utah appears to be unable to overcome the problem that has been separating them from legitimate contenders for several years: Closing out road games. Albeit Jerry Sloan’s squad rallied to an impressive 12-4 home record, they failed to deliver on the road and lost nine out of fourteen so far. One positive aspect has been the performance of point guard Deron Williams who put up 19.9 points, 10.0 assists, 4.1 rebounds and 1.1 steals. Similarly, former All-Star Carlos Boozer dominated the low-post area with 19.5 points, 10.7 boards and 3.5 assists per contest. Taking everything into consideration, it looks like the encounter between the Jazz and Thunder could still be anyone’s game. Even though Utah might be the slightly better overall team, they failed to play up to their potential in December and will have to improve significantly in order to avoid a loss in Oklahoma on Friday.

You can watch all games of the Utah Jazz and Oklahoma City Thunder right here on www.watchlivenba.com, the home of NBA live streaming.