Charlotte hasn't won four straight games since March 25-30, 2011, but the Bobcats can do exactly that with a home win over the Utah Jazz on Saturday. The Bobcats kept their winning streak alive by rallying from a 20-point deficit for a 116-106 win at Detroit on Friday. After splitting the first two games of their five-game road trip, the Jazz turned in a miserable performance in a 118-85 loss at Atlanta on Friday.
Just two years removed from a seven-win season - albeit one shortened to 66 games because of the lockout - the Bobcats have the fourth-best record in the Eastern Conference and are gaining confidence with every victory. "It's real big, especially for a team like us, trying to prove ourselves," Charlotte center Al Jefferson told reporters after the win at Detroit. "We came back from 20 points down and we just kept fighting and stayed together." Utah is 1-6 on the road against Eastern Conference teams with the only win an 86-82 victory at Orlando on Wednesday.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, ROOT (Utah), SportSouth (Charlotte)
ABOUT THE JAZZ (7-22): Utah has played better of late, but it didn't show against the Hawks. The starting backcourt of Gordon Hayward (16.6 points, 5.2 rebounds, 4.6 assists) and rookie Trey Burke (12.8 points, 5 assists) combined for only 13 points as the team shot 37.2 percent. "I thought we didn't come out with the sense of urgency we'd been seeing," coach Tyrone Corbin told reporters. "I thought we'd turned the corner, I felt like, the way we played in Orlando the other night. I was looking for that effort."
ABOUT THE BOBCATS (13-14): First-year coach Steve Clifford has transformed Charlotte into one of the league's elite defensive teams, and now the offense is starting to come along. Leading scorer Kemba Walker (18.4 points) posted 34 points against Detroit - his fourth straight game topping the 20-point mark. Jefferson (16.1 points, 9.6 rebounds) is still recovering from a nagging ankle injury but put up 24 points - 15 in the fourth quarter - and grabbed 14 rebounds against the Pistons.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Bobcats SF Jeff Taylor injured his right Achilles tendon 37 seconds into Friday's game and will undergo further testing Saturday in Charlotte. Taylor had been starting in place of SF Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, who remains sidelined with a broken left hand.
2. The Jazz are 1-13 when trailing at halftime, including 0-11 on the road.
3. Gerald Henderson (18), Walker (16) and Jefferson (14) all have streaks of at least 14 straight games scoring in double digits.