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San Antonio (29-14) at Utah (25-20)
A home game against one of the league’s top teams didn’t help the struggling Utah Jazz over the weekend.
Maybe this one could.
The Jazz, in danger of losing four straight for the first time this season, look to hand the San Antonio Spurs their fifth consecutive regular season loss in Salt Lake City on Tuesday night.
Utah (25-20) has lost three in a row for the second time this season, matching its skid from Nov. 12-15. A loss to the Spurs (29-14) would give the Jazz four straight defeats for the first time since a six-game slide in December 2007.
Even when struggling, Utah can usually count on a boost at EnergySolutions Arena. The Jazz have one of the NBA’s best home records this season at 17-5 after going a league-best 37-4 in 2007-08.
Utah has played one of its last three at home, but lost that contest 102-97 to Eastern Conference-leading Cleveland on Saturday night for its first defeat in eight games at EnergySolutions Arena.
Two of Utah’s wins there last season were against the Spurs, who have lost four straight regular season games in Salt Lake City since a 95-86 win on April 4, 2006. Utah has held San Antonio to 80.8 points per game during that stretch, and it can certainly use another strong effort on defense against a Spurs team which owns the second-best record in the West.
The Jazz have struggled to stop the opposition offensively during their skid, giving up 109.0 points a contest. They’re coming off one of their worst defensive games of the season, losing 117-97 to Denver on Sunday night.
“There wasn’t much defensive effort,” Utah point guard Deron Williams said after his team forced 12 turnovers—three off a season low.
The Jazz have been hurt by injuries, missing star forward Carlos Boozer most of the season. He’s not expected back from knee surgery for a couple more weeks.
Fellow forward Andrei Kirilenko has missed three straight games with an ankle injury, and his status remains uncertain.
If Utah hopes to avoid slipping further in the West playoff race, it’s going to need big men such as Mehmet Okur to step up their play. The veteran center is scoring 17.1 points per game, but has averaged 8.0 while shooting 20.6 percent (7-for-34) during the Jazz’s losing streak.
He’ll likely spend much of this contest matched up with Spurs All-Star Tim Duncan, who had 18 points and seven rebounds in a 119-94 win over the Jazz on Nov. 21 in the teams’ only meeting of the season. It was lesser-known players Roger Mason and George Hill who carried San Antonio in that game with 29 and 23 points, respectively.
Mason and Hill, though, combined for nine points on 1-of-11 shooting in a 99-85 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday.
Tony Parker scored 19 points and Duncan added 15, but both stars sat out the fourth quarter with the Spurs down 79-66 after the third.
“I thought the effort was OK, defensively,” Duncan said. “But we had a couple of lapses that turned right into points.”
San Antonio lost for the fourth time in 18 games in the opener of a stretch during which it plays 11 of 12 on the road. The Spurs are 12-7 away from the AT&T Center.
A home game against one of the league’s top teams didn’t help the struggling Utah Jazz over the weekend.
Maybe this one could.
The Jazz, in danger of losing four straight for the first time this season, look to hand the San Antonio Spurs their fifth consecutive regular season loss in Salt Lake City on Tuesday night.
Utah (25-20) has lost three in a row for the second time this season, matching its skid from Nov. 12-15. A loss to the Spurs (29-14) would give the Jazz four straight defeats for the first time since a six-game slide in December 2007.
Even when struggling, Utah can usually count on a boost at EnergySolutions Arena. The Jazz have one of the NBA’s best home records this season at 17-5 after going a league-best 37-4 in 2007-08.
Utah has played one of its last three at home, but lost that contest 102-97 to Eastern Conference-leading Cleveland on Saturday night for its first defeat in eight games at EnergySolutions Arena.
Two of Utah’s wins there last season were against the Spurs, who have lost four straight regular season games in Salt Lake City since a 95-86 win on April 4, 2006. Utah has held San Antonio to 80.8 points per game during that stretch, and it can certainly use another strong effort on defense against a Spurs team which owns the second-best record in the West.
The Jazz have struggled to stop the opposition offensively during their skid, giving up 109.0 points a contest. They’re coming off one of their worst defensive games of the season, losing 117-97 to Denver on Sunday night.
“There wasn’t much defensive effort,” Utah point guard Deron Williams said after his team forced 12 turnovers—three off a season low.
The Jazz have been hurt by injuries, missing star forward Carlos Boozer most of the season. He’s not expected back from knee surgery for a couple more weeks.
Fellow forward Andrei Kirilenko has missed three straight games with an ankle injury, and his status remains uncertain.
If Utah hopes to avoid slipping further in the West playoff race, it’s going to need big men such as Mehmet Okur to step up their play. The veteran center is scoring 17.1 points per game, but has averaged 8.0 while shooting 20.6 percent (7-for-34) during the Jazz’s losing streak.
He’ll likely spend much of this contest matched up with Spurs All-Star Tim Duncan, who had 18 points and seven rebounds in a 119-94 win over the Jazz on Nov. 21 in the teams’ only meeting of the season. It was lesser-known players Roger Mason and George Hill who carried San Antonio in that game with 29 and 23 points, respectively.
Mason and Hill, though, combined for nine points on 1-of-11 shooting in a 99-85 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday.
Tony Parker scored 19 points and Duncan added 15, but both stars sat out the fourth quarter with the Spurs down 79-66 after the third.
“I thought the effort was OK, defensively,” Duncan said. “But we had a couple of lapses that turned right into points.”
San Antonio lost for the fourth time in 18 games in the opener of a stretch during which it plays 11 of 12 on the road. The Spurs are 12-7 away from the AT&T Center.
