Suns at Jazz
The Phoenix Suns are aiming to continue momentum and the Utah Jazz are glad to be back at home when the teams square off on Saturday. Phoenix notched the third-largest comeback in franchise history on Friday, rallying from 26 points down to notch a 107-105 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers. Utah suffered a 20-point road loss against the Denver Nuggets to drop to 0-4 on the road. The Jazz are 2-0 at home.
Phoenix’s comeback was three shy of the franchise-record 29-point rally against the Boston Celtics in 2003. The victory was the second in a row for the Suns and pushed their record up to .500. Goran Dragic scored a season-high 26 points. Utah scored just 11 points in the second quarter and notched a season-low 84 points in the loss to Denver. The Jazz are in last place in the Northwest Division.
TV: 9 p.m. ET, FSN (Phoenix), ROOT Sports (Utah)
ABOUT THE SUNS (3-3): Backup guard Shannon Brown scored 22 points in the comeback win over Cleveland to follow up a 24-point outing against the Charlotte Bobcats two nights earlier. Brown had never previously recorded back-to-back 20-point outings in his career. He has scored 14 or more points in four of Phoenix’s six games. “I’ve always been a scorer,” Brown said. “I didn’t get to this league because of anything else. I do whatever it takes for this team to win.”
ABOUT THE JAZZ (2-4): Center Al Jefferson disappeared on the offensive end against Denver with just four points on 1-of-9 shooting. Jefferson is averaging only 11.8 points after posting a 19.2 average last season. He was one of several Utah players to have a poor offensive performance. “You’re going to have nights where you miss shots, especially on the road, but our defense slacked off,” Jazz coach Tyrone Corbin said. “We didn’t move our bodies and we didn’t put pressure on the basket.”
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Phoenix has won seven of the past eight meetings and is also 4-1 in its last five visits to Salt Lake City.
2. Jazz G Mo Williams had just two points against the Nuggets after averaging 19.8 over the first five games.
3. Suns C Marcin Gortat has 12 blocks over the last two contests and is averaging 4.3 per game.