Jazz at Thunder
The Utah Jazz are trying to get back to .500 and have the misfortune of seeing Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook in two straight games. The Jazz will try to earn a split of the home-and-home set when they visit the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday.
Durant scored the final 11 points for the Thunder in a 94-90 win at Utah on Friday to overcome a rough first three quarters. “(Durant’s) great because he works,” Oklahoma City coach Billy Donovan told reporters. “It’s a great parallel to me, is the amount of time he puts into the game. Every shot he takes is a game shot, all the time. It’s not a mistake that he’s as successful as he is because he really invests time in what he’s doing all the time.” Utah, which allowed the Thunder to shoot 54.5 percent in a 111-89 home loss on Nov. 23, was pleased with its improved effort. “This was a game that I was really proud of how we competed," Jazz coach Quin Snyder told reporters. “It was a very physical game. I thought we took that challenge.”
TV: 7 p.m. ET, ROOT (Utah), FSN Oklahoma (Oklahoma City)
ABOUT THE JAZZ (10-11): Utah dropped four of its last six games and is staring at a brutal two-game road trip to Oklahoma City and San Antonio on back-to-back nights. The Jazz have had some trouble replacing Rudy Gobert (knee) on the defensive end but got a strong performance from Derrick Favors on the inside against the Thunder. Favors managed just 13 points but blocked three shots and added a pair of steals in 36 minutes.
ABOUT THE THUNDER (15-8): Durant and Westbrook combined for 45 just points – down from their combined average of 53.4 – but leaned on the supporting cast through the middle of the game to keep it close. “We’re sharing the basketball and we’re playing offensively very unselfishly,” Donovan told reporters. “We’re getting better defensively. I don’t think on either end of the floor we’re exactly where we want to be, but we’re moving in a positive direction.” That improvement has resulted in a four-game winning streak in which the Thunder are allowing an average of 91.8 points.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Jazz G/F Gordon Hayward is 8-of-10 from 3-point range in the last two games.
2. Thunder C Enes Kanter scored 11 points against his former team on Friday.
3. Oklahoma City took four of the last five in the series.