Jazz at Thunder
THE STORY: After falling to the Western Conference-worst New
Orleans Hornets, the last thing the Utah Jazz need to see on the final
night of their back-to-back-to-back set is the Western Conference-best
Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday. The Jazz have dropped six of their
last eight games and have not had a lot of recent success against
Oklahoma City. The Thunder have had three full days of rest since going
into Utah and beating the Jazz 101-87 on Friday. Russell Westbrook went
28 points in that one and is averaging 30.0 over the last four.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, ROOT Sports (Jazz), FS Oklahoma (Thunder)
ABOUT THE JAZZ (14-13):
Utah’s brutal stretch looked a lot better Sunday after a win over the
Memphis Grizzlies under its belt and the lowly Hornets on the horizon.
Instead, the Jazz have to hope for a win over Oklahoma City to go even
during their stretch of four games in five days. The only good thing to
come out of Monday’s 86-80 setback was that the starters should be
well-rested after taking the fourth quarter off. Utah was outrebounded
46-32 in Friday’s loss to the Thunder and got to the free throw line 13
times compared to 32 for Oklahoma City.
ABOUT THE THUNDER (21-6):
Westbrook also had five steals and six rebounds in Friday’s game and
got plenty of help from Serge Ibaka, who helped control the paint with
16 points and 11 rebounds. The Thunder have scored at least 100 points
in nine of their last 10 games and have a chance to open up a bigger gap
in the West with six of their next seven at home. Kevin Durant had a
string of 19 straight games with 20 points or more snapped on Friday,
when he scored 19 points on 6-of-10 shooting.
BUZZER BEATERS:
1. Oklahoma City has taken four straight in the series, averaging 110.8 points along the way.
2. Westbrook has averaged 22.2 points and 6.0 assists in 13 career games against Utah.
3. Jazz forward Al Jefferson has recorded a double-double in back-to-back games.