Pelicans at Jazz
The Utah Jazz have an opportunity to go on a run with eight of their next 10 games being at home, beginning with Saturday’s game against the New Orleans Pelicans. Utah has played eight of its first 13 games on the road and is three games under .500 as it begins the pivotal stretch. New Orleans is finishing a four-game road trip and was routed 117-97 by the Denver Nuggets on Friday.
Pelicans power forward Anthony Davis had his stretch of seven 20-point efforts end when he scored 18 points on 7-of-17 shooting against the Nuggets. “We just have to move on,” Davis told reporters. “You’re going to have games like this.” The Jazz suffered a 101-88 road loss to the Golden State Warriors on Friday, with Enes Kanter scoring a team-high 18 points.
TV: 9 p.m. ET, ROOT (Utah)
ABOUT THE PELICANS (6-5): Forward Ryan Anderson was one of the players who struggled against Denver as he scored 10 points on 2-of-11 shooting. The 3-point bomber also struggled from behind the arc, missing all five of his shots and he is now 6-of-23 from 3-point range over the last three contests. Shooting guard Eric Gordon is picking up his game and has scored in double digits in six of the last seven games, though he has yet to have a 20-point outing.
ABOUT THE JAZZ (5-8): Point guard Trey Burke has struggled with his shooting in his second NBA season and is shooting a porous 32 percent from the field. He scored a season-low two points on 1-of-8 shooting in the loss to Golden State and he has scored in single digits six times. Kanter was 8-of-10 shooting against the Warriors and has strung together three straight solid outings while averaging 17.3 points during the stretch.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The teams split four games last season.
2. Pelicans C Omer Asik (back) could miss his fourth straight game.
3. Utah SF Gordon Hayward averaged 18.8 points, 8.5 assists and 1.8 steals in four games against New Orleans last season.