Kings at Jazz
The Utah Jazz will look for a second straight win over the Sacramento Kings when the teams meet Wednesday night in Salt Lake City. The visiting Jazz beat the Kings 101-95 on Sunday as Rodney Hood scored a season-high 25 points, the fourth time in the last month he set his season high. Utah has won four of its last five overall, while Sacramento ended a five-game losing streak with a win Tuesday night against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Jazz leading scorer Gordon Hayward is looking for a bounce-back game after scoring five points on 2-for-11 shooting against the Kings. He scored 30 against Sacramento in a 12-point victory Feb. 7, so he has experienced some success against the Kings. The difference may have been Rudy Gay, who was matched against Hayward back in February but missed Sunday’s game with a concussion, though he returned Tuesday and scored 33 points against Minnesota.
TV: 10 p.m. ET, CSN-CA (Sacramento), ROOT Sports (Utah)
ABOUT THE KINGS (27-50): Sacramento will reportedly be without leading scorer and rebounder DeMarcus Cousins, who is still bothered by a foot ailment and didn’t play in the win against the Timberwolves. That seems like a big blow for the Kings, as Cousins recorded a triple-double in two of his last three games, but they did fine without him Tuesday night. Look for Reggie Evans to fill his spot in the starting lineup and give Sacramento the type of rebounding they’re used to out of Cousins, though he isn’t anywhere near the scorer.
ABOUT THE JAZZ (35-42): Rudy Gobert and Dante Exum are the two players on the Jazz who still have a chance to appear in all 82 games this season. Gobert has seen his status skyrocket in the second half of the season, improving his averages to 8.1 points, 9.3 rebounds and 2.3 blocks, and should be able to feast if Cousins is out of the lineup. Exum is still trying to define his role with the team, though he flashed his playmaking ability last week when he totaled a season-high 12 assists in a win against the Denver Nuggets.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Jazz lead the league this season in holding opponents under 90 points (26 times) and under 80 points (seven times).
2. Utah’s bench is averaging 34.8 points over the last six games compared to 28.3 for the season.
3. Hayward is the third player in NBA history to improve his scoring average by at least two points each of his first four seasons (Gary Payton, Kobe Bryant) and is on pace to do it again this season.
PREDICTION: Jazz 92, Kings 84