Nets at Jazz
The Utah Jazz are sliding in the wrong direction and are badly in need
of a victory when they host the Brooklyn Nets on Saturday. Utah has
dropped four of six games after recording a season low point total
against San Antonio on Thursday and a four-game road swing begins Monday
in Boston.
The Jazz were outclassed 96-78 by the Spurs to drop one game below .500 and fall into ninth place in the Western Conference. Utah trails the Houston Rockets by a half-game for the final playoff spot and feels the urgency to defeat the Nets as it has struggled on the road (9-18) all season. Brooklyn will be playing its second game without former All-Star Joe Johnson, who was waived on Thursday after agreeing to a buyout with the Nets. Brooklyn wasn't distracted by the development as it posted a 116-106 victory over the Phoenix Suns later that night to halt a seven-game road losing streak.
TV: 9:30 p.m. ET, MSG (Brooklyn), ROOT (Utah)
ABOUT THE NETS (16-42): Johnson gave up $3 million of his $24.9 million salary to gain his release in hopes of joining a contender and interim coach Tony Brown was disappointed to see him go. "I'm a little sad that he's not going to be around and I'd like to run plays for him," Brown told reporters. "But I have the utmost respect for him and wish him nothing but the best going forward." Bojan Bogdanovic moved into the starting lineup at small forward in place of Johnson and poured in a season-best 24 points versus the Suns.
ABOUT THE JAZZ (28-29): Power forward Derrick Favors continued his recent strong play with 25 points against the Spurs and is averaging 22.3 points and shooting 61.7 percent from the field over the past four games. "I want to be aggressive," said Favors afterward, "and take my shots and really try and make something happen." Small forward Gordon Hayward struggled to get free against Spurs defensive guru Kawhi Leonard and had just 11 points on 4-of-13 shooting after scoring 20 or more points in six of the previous seven games.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Jazz have won the past three meetings by an average of 21.3 points and recorded a 108-86 road victory on Jan. 22.
2. Brooklyn PF Thaddeus Young had a season-high seven steals - one off his career high - while scoring 18 points against the Suns.
3. Utah averaged 113 points during a three-game span before being limited to 78 by the Spurs.