Jazz at Trail Blazers
The hottest team in the NBA for a full month, the Utah Jazz have suddenly dropped three in a row. They'll try to snap the losing streak when they complete a three-game road trip at the Portland Trail Blazers on Saturday.
After winning 14 of 15 games from Dec. 26 through Jan. 25, the Jazz dropped a home game to Houston on Monday before losing both ends of a challenging road back-to-back at San Antonio and Denver. "We stalled for a lot of reasons," coach Quin Snyder told reporters after Thursday's 106-100 loss to the Nuggets - the team's lowest-scoring output since Dec. 9. The Trail Blazers continue to ride the hot hand of All-Star guard Damian Lillard, who scored 48 points to lead his team to a 127-119 win at the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday in the first game for the Lakers since the death of Kobe Bryant. "It was hard," Lillard told ESPN in a postgame interview. "I think everybody had a lot of emotions coming in and then the videos, the music. It was just one of those moments, one of our legends, icons, in the world, passing away. Really tough night."
TIME: 10:30 p.m. ET. TV: AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain, NBCS Northwest, NBA TV Canada
ABOUT THE JAZZ (32-16): Moments after being selected to his first All-Star Game, guard Donovan Mitchell was held to a season low-tying four points on 1-of-12 shooting at Denver, which stuck Torrey Craig on Utah's leading scorer. "He made it tough on me," Mitchell told reporters of Craig. "He always does. I can't sit here and say, 'Oh, I was tired.' He did his job." Fellow All-Star Rudy Gobert kept the Jazz in it with 21 points and 11 rebounds and he averaged 17.8 points on 70.9 percent shooting in January while hauling in an average of 15.2 rebounds.
ABOUT THE TRAIL BLAZERS (22-27): Portland was shorthanded Friday night as Carmelo Anthony chose to sit out the contest as he continues to grieve the loss of Bryant, a close friend. Lillard made that a relative non-factor with his fourth effort of at least 47 points in the last five games. The 29-year-old has posted incredible averages of 48.4 points, 9.8 assists and 8.2 rebounds during the Blazers' current 4-1 surge and he's 40-of-71 from 3-point range and recorded his first career triple-double in that stretch.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Jazz G Mike Conley sat out Thursday's game due to right knee soreness but is expected to play Saturday.
2. Trail Blazers C Hassan Whiteside has five straight double-doubles after posting 30 points on 13-of-14 shooting to go along with 12 rebounds and five blocks at Los Angeles.
3. Mitchell's 35 points led Utah to a 121-115 win over Portland at home Dec. 26.