Kings at Jazz
The Utah Jazz look to defeat Sacramento for the ninth time in the past 10 meetings when they host the Kings on Saturday. Utah will be looking to rebound from a porous Friday night road effort against the Los Angeles Lakers when it committed 23 turnovers and succumbed 95-86.
Jazz coach Quin Snyder will hope to receive a better effort against Sacramento after his team was often outclassed in the loss to the Lakers. "We were hesitant offensively and didn't play with a lot of force, and that hesitancy hurt us throughout the game," Snyder said afterward. "We just need to be stronger with the ball. We need to be more decisive and we need to be more precise." Sacramento dropped a 122-112 home decision to the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday despite point guard De'Aaron Fox delivering a fine all-around effort of 28 points, six rebounds and five assists. Fox said after the contest that he suffered a hip injury in the final minutes and will be re-evaluated Saturday to see if he can play against the Jazz.
TV: 9 p.m. ET, NBCS California (Sacramento), AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain (Utah)
ABOUT THE KINGS (0-2): Shooting guard Buddy Hield scored 21 points in the loss to Portland but he noted it is hard to win if you allow 122 points. "Everybody has to take the challenge on and limit the guys to their average," Hield said afterward. "And get stops and rebounds and doing it collectively ... if you want to be a good team, we have to be at our best." Meanwhile, coach Luke Walton is still trying to figure out the best way to account for the loss of power forward Marvin Bagley III, who broke his right thumb in the season-opening 124-95 road loss to the Phoenix Suns.
ABOUT THE JAZZ (1-1): New point guard Mike Conley has struggled in the first two games and has made 4-of-27 shots from the field while averaging nine points. "I can't shy away from good looks," Conley said after Friday's loss. "I'm getting a lot of opportunities and I'm just not making them. It's really frustrating for me but I'm not worried about it." Star shooting guard Donovan Mitchell scored 24 points against the Lakers after a mammoth season debut of 32 points and a career-best 12 rebounds in Wednesday's 100-95 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Jazz went 3-1 against the Kings last season.
2. Sacramento F Harry Giles III (knee) will probably sit out for the third consecutive game.
3. Utah SF Bojan Bogdanovic (ankle) will likely miss his second straight contest.