Spurs at Jazz
The San Antonio Spurs resumed play after the All-Star break with back-to-back road losses and attempt to get back in the victory column when they visit the Utah Jazz on Monday. San Antonio is in the midst of its nine-game rodeo road trip and is 2-3 five games into the annual excursion after losses to the Los Angeles Clippers and Golden State Warriors. Utah began play after the break with a convincing 92-76 win over the Portland Trail Blazers.
The Jazz split two matchups with the Spurs earlier this season, squeezing out a 100-96 home victory on Dec. 9 and playing woeful in an 89-69 road loss on Jan. 18. Utah played exceptional defense while holding Portland to a season low for points and is hopeful of making significant progress over the final third of the season. San Antonio had trouble defending the 3-point line against Golden State by allowing 17 triples, the most in the 19-season tenure of Spurs coach Gregg Popovich.
TV: 9 p.m. ET, FSN Southwest (San Antonio), ROOT (Utah)
ABOUT THE SPURS (34-21): Tony Parker had two points on 0-of-4 shooting in 21 minutes against Golden State and was unable to guard Warriors star Stephen Curry. That just reinforced comments Popovich made a few days earlier that San Antonio isn’t going anywhere in terms of the playoffs if Parker isn’t in top form. “His aggressiveness is a huge key for us because of his ability to penetrate and get to the rim, and he hasn’t done so like he has in the past,” Popovich told reporters. “It’s because of a lack of confidence in that leg and a lack of conditioning, a combination of those two things.”
ABOUT THE JAZZ (20-34): Rudy Gobert is the starting center after the recent trade of Enes Kanter to Oklahoma City and he provides a much-needed presence on the defensive end. Gobert had five blocked shots in the victory over Portland and has 19 in seven games this month along with altering the trajectory of numerous others. Scoring is a work-in-progress for the 7-1 Gobert, who has reached double digits just twice in the last 11 games and averages 6.8 points.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. San Antonio has won six of the past seven meetings.
2. Jazz SF Gordon Hayward has scored 20 or more points 27 times, including nine of the past 12 games.
3. Spurs SF Kawhi Leonard was 5-of-7 shooting against Golden State after going 12-of-52 over the previous four games.