April 24, 2012; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Utah Jazz forward Derrick Favors (15) blocks the attempted dunk of Phoenix Suns center Marcin Gortat (4) during the first half at Energy Solutions Arena. Mandatory Credit: Russ Isabella-US PRESSWIRE

The comeback kids can’t do it every night. The Phoenix Suns (3-4) fell short to the Utah Jazz (3-4) on Saturday night 94-81. The Suns fresh off a 26 point rally in a win against the Cavaliers last night couldn’t do it tonight.

The Suns seemed lifeless all-night and trailed the Jazz all night all. The Suns dug themselves a hole early trailing 29-19 after the 1^st quarter and trailed by as much as 22 points late in the 3^rd quarter after a Derrick Favors dunk.

However the Suns kept fighting, behind Shannon Brown who sparked the Suns late in the 3^rd quarter with his quick but only 4 points of the evening and the Suns trailed 61-77 after 3 quarters.

The Suns came into the 4^th period with a chip on their shoulders and Luis Scola scored 5 of his 21 points to begin the 4^th for the Suns.

The Suns would go on to take the Jazz out of the game with their pesky defense and go on a 13-2 run in the 4^th capped off by a Michael Beasley put-back and the Suns trailed only 74-79 at the 5:24 mark in the 4^th quarter after trailing by as much  as 22 points earlier in the game.

Unfortunately for the Suns, the comeback magic wasn’t going to take place two nights in a row. The Jazz went on a 15-7 run to close out the quarter.

Utah did a tremendous job defensively against the Suns holding the Suns to 37% shooting, including 25% from behind the 3-point line.

April 24, 2012; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Utah Jazz center Al Jefferson (25) is defended by Phoenix Suns center Marcin Gortat (4) during the first quarter at Energy Solutions Arena. Mandatory Credit: Russ Isabella-US PRESSWIRE

The Jazz were led by their post-up maestro Al Jefferson who scored a season high 27 points and grabbed 14 rebounds on the night. Paul Milsap and Gordon Hayward each added 18 points each for Utah.

I’m sure a lot of Suns fans recall how badly Marcin Gortat played the last time the Suns played in Utah when the Suns and the Jazz were fighting for the final playoff spot and pretty much the winner of that game would likely go on to the playoffs. Well during that game Gortat came up smaller than mini-me, and tonight, history repeated itself.

Marcin Gortat shot 0 for 6 from the field, got completely dominated by Jefferson, and the rest of the Utah big guys. You know what, basketball is a team game and it’s unfair to place the blame on a single player but Gortat is at fault 100% for tonight’s loss!

I mean it was embarrassing what was going on out there. Gortat was an absolute non-factor on the floor just like he was on April 24^th of last season when the Suns fell to the Jazz and was eliminated from the playoff race.

Gortat’s body language throughout the game became a plague that spread through every last Suns player that was on the floor with him. Gortat couldn’t guard Jefferson, Enes Kanter, Paul Milsap, and he sure as hell couldn’t guard Derrick Favors who was playing volleyball with Gortat’s shot attempts the last time these two guys met, and he did it again tonight. Gortat spent more time tonight, complaining about calls or complaining about not getting a call than he did trying to actually defend and stay in front of his man.

It’s one thing to get worked over by one of the best low-post centers in the league in Al Jefferson but it’s another to get worked over by what seemed like every single of Utah’s big men.

It’s extremely disappointing to watch the Suns get an improbable win last night to the disaster that we saw tonight. In fact tonight was a lot like last night, except the Suns just couldn’t dig themselves out of this one.

Sebastian Telfair had himself another nice game as he scored 9 points, dished out 4 assists and got himself 4 steals. Shannon

April 24, 2012; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Phoenix Suns shooting guard Shannon Brown (26) goes after a loose ball during the first half against the Utah Jazz at Energy Solutions Arena. Mandatory Credit: Russ Isabella-US PRESSWIRE

Brown wasn’t the 4^th quarter star tonight, Brown shot 1 of 9 on the game and scored just 4 points.

The Suns were dominated on the boards tonight, getting outrebounded by the Jazz 52-37. The Suns simply just were out of it tonight, it began with Gortat and ultimately it spread through most of the team; the team was lifeless for the first 36 minutes of the game and the only time when they actually gained some life was when Gortat stepped off the court.

The Suns don’t have a lot of time to figure things out. The Suns will be flying back home to Phoenix tonight to prepare against the Denver Nuggets who are coming to town on Monday night.

April 24, 2012; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Phoenix Suns forward Markieff Morris (11) and small forward Jared Dudley (3) battle for position with Utah Jazz forward Derrick Favors (15) during the second half at Energy Solutions Arena. The Jazz defeated the Suns 100-88 to clinch a spot in the playoffs. Mandatory Credit: Russ Isabella-US PRESSWIRE

The Phoenix Suns (3-3) are fresh off one of the greatest comeback in franchise history on Friday night after overcoming a 26 point deficit against the Cleveland Cavaliers and pulled off a 107-105 victory. The Suns won’t get a day off though as they will be going up against the Utah Jazz (2-4) tonight in Salt Lake City.

Thus far the Suns are 0-1 on the second end of a back to back but the good news for the Suns is that the Jazz are on the second end of their own back to back games. The Jazz got trumped in Denver last night 84-104. The Jazz are a struggling bunch right now after pulling off an impressive win against the Mavericks in their season opener, they have lost 4 of their last 5 games.

The Jazz despite their struggles are the favorite in this match-up by 9.0 points according to ESPN.com. The Suns will look to overcome that and build off their improbable win last night and will try to be over .500 for the first time this season.

Keys to the game: Suns

If the Suns are to pull of this win against the Jazz the Suns will need to shoot well from the field. The Jazz has good defensive presence inside with Al Jefferson and Paul Milsap however their best interior defender is 3^rd year player Derrick Favors who comes off the bench. So it’s vital the Suns shoot well to keep the Jazz from loading up the paint.

The Suns must keep their turnovers in check in this match-up against the Jazz. The Jazz have been a less than mediocre offensive team as they are averaging 95.3 points on the season so the Suns can’t afford to help them out by allowing Utah easy baskets off turnovers. The Suns have been good in terms of taking care of the ball as they are ranked 10^th in the league in turnovers per game however they did cough up the ball 17 times last night against Cleveland.

Keys to the game: Jazz

The Jazz need to attack the Suns interior defense with Paul Milsap and Al Jefferson. Opposing starting centers over the last 4 games has scored 18.5 points per game on Marcin Gortat and Jefferson may be his toughest match-up yet.

The Jazz also need to keep the Suns off the offensive glass as the Suns are 3^rd in the league this season through the first 6 games in offensive rebounds per game. The Jazz need to limit the Suns second chance points as guys like Gortat, and Luis Scola thrive off of easy put backs; don’t forget about P.J Tucker who will snatch a couple of offensive boards right underneath your nose every game.

April 4, 2012; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Utah Jazz center Al Jefferson (25) drives the baseline while defended by Phoenix Suns center Marcin Gortat (4) during the second half at Energy Solutions Arena. The Suns defeated the Jazz 107-105. Mandatory Credit: Russ Isabella-US PRESSWIRE

The X-Factor

The X-Factor in this game is stamina. Both teams are on the 2^nd end of a back to back and with the Jazz playing in Denver last night and the Suns fighting tooth and nail back from a 26-point deficit, it’s safe to say both teams are tired. So whichever team can bring fourth more effort and energy in this game will most likely come out with the win. Both teams are an even playing field in that both teams had to travel to Utah for this game however the Jazz does have the home-court advantage.

Match-up of the night!

Tonight’s match-up of the night will be between Al Jefferson and Marcin Gortat. Gortat was awful the last time he played in Utah when the Suns need the win to stay alive in the playoff race; Gortat came up smaller than mini-me in that game. Gortat will look to redeem himself tomorrow night to get-rid of some ghosts that I’m sure still haunts him from last season when he let his team down in the biggest game of the season. Jefferson is one of the best post-up centers in the league and Gortat will have his work cut out for him defensively after playing 37 minutes in last night’s win.