Jazz at Cavaliers
The Utah Jazz are in the midst of a slump and hope to halt it when they visit the host Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday. The Jazz have lost four of five games and have slipped to eighth in the Western Conference. Utah fell to the Milwaukee Bucks in Monday’s opener of a four-game road trip. Cleveland has lost back-to-back games and is 1-2 during a five-game homestand. The Cavaliers have lost six consecutive games against Utah.
Cleveland lost 102-97 to the New York Knicks on Monday. The Cavaliers have lost five of their last seven home games and are 11-18 in their own building. Utah center Al Jefferson (ankle) will likely miss his third straight contest. The Jazz are aware of the recent success of the Los Angeles Lakers as they attempt to keep hold of the final Western Conference playoff spot. “We’re always aware of what’s going on with our opponents, but you can’t get crazy about it,” Utah coach Tyrone Corbin said. “All we control is what we do.”
TV: 7 p.m. ET, ROOT (Utah), Fox Sports Ohio (Cleveland)
ABOUT THE JAZZ (32-28): Forward Derrick Favors has started the past three games and has excelled in two of them. Favors matched his career high with 23 points and tied his season best with 15 rebounds in the loss to the Bucks. Five days earlier, Favors had 17 points and 15 rebounds against the Atlanta Hawks. He has been starting due to Paul Millsap (ankle) missing the Atlanta game and Jefferson sitting out the following two games. Three players who started against Milwaukee didn’t score a single point – guard Randy Foye (0-for-6), forward Marvin Williams (0-for-5) and point guard Earl Watson (0-for-4).
ABOUT THE CAVALIERS (20-40): Forward Marreese Speights made his first start since joining Cleveland and scored a season-best 23 points in the loss to the Knicks. Speights hit his first 10 shots during a 10-of-14 effort and also grabbed eight rebounds. He is averaging 12.6 points and 6.2 rebounds in 17 games since the Cavaliers acquired him from the Memphis Grizzlies. Guard Kyrie Irving had 22 points against New York after missing three straight games with a knee injury, and became the ninth player in NBA history to reach 2,000 career points prior to turning 21 years ago.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Utah recorded a 109-98 home win over Cleveland on Jan. 19 with G Randy Foye scoring a team-best 20 points.
2. Cavaliers swingman C.J. Miles scored 12 points against Utah in the January game in his first career outing against the Jazz after spending his first seven seasons with the franchise.
3. Jazz second-year C Enes Kanter has back-to-back doubles, averaging 20.5 points and 16 rebounds.