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Every Monday, John Bennett previews the games he’s most looking forward to. Looks like he’s going to be a busy man tonight and Friday.

1. Oklahoma City @ Utah, Monday.

Utah is coming off an unbelievable road trip where they beat Miami, Orlando, Atlanta and Charlotte in comeback wins all in the span of 5 days. The Bobcats game may not mean a lot but, after starting 2-3, Sloan has these guys rolling.

Paul Millsap’s monster 46-point game against the Heat was ridiculous. This, especially the trio of late three pointers, will never happen again. Overall, though, the big man is shooting over 60% from the field and has helped ease Al Jefferson into the Jazz frontcourt.

Kevin Durant’s 8 points to close out Portland in a 10-0 run was very impressive. I have a feeling the kid’s finding his groove. That being said, Westbrook has been some fantastic basketball, averaging 23.7 points, 6 rebounds, and 7.8 assists. Oh, and he’s 5th in the NBA in PER. Not too shabby for a “number two option.”
The last time the Thunder played Utah, OKC got destroyed 120-99. Jefferson and Millsap combined for 53 points, 26 rebounds and 7 assists. Ibaka will need to slow down one of these big guys for OKC to win this game.
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Alex Gallard / AP Photo

Some week to inexcusably slack on my daily blog, right? Holy crap.

You’ve no doubt watched/read about all of this already by now, but let’s have a quick look at what happened over the past week:

The Jazz came back from double-digit deficits in four straight road games, after coming back to beat the Clippers in double-OT at home. Two of those wins were against the Heat and Magic on a back-to-back. Against Miami, Paul Millsap went Reggie Miller at the end of the fourth and ended up with 46 points. I’m still not sure that all of this really occurred. I’ve no idea how good Utah actually is. And I don’t think we’ll learn much from tonight’s game against the tired Thunder… but I do know they’ve been successful against teams with singular names recently.
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In our first podcast, Julian, Eric, and I discuss the Iverson/Memphis debacle, Earl Smith III, Stephen Jackson’s agent vs. Nellie, the ridiculousness of the Raptors, the success of the Suns and Nuggets, the failures of the Cavs and Hornets, and Kobe’s newfound appreciation for the post-up game. Oh, and we play a little game.

We recorded this yesterday, before watching the slew of awesome games covered here and here. So, we didn’t get to talk about Brad Miller’s near-buzzer-beater or Travis Outlaw’s vicious dunk on Rudy Gay. We’ve got you covered on Matt Bonner dunk analysis, though.

Click here to listen to the podcast.