Jazz at Spurs
Veteran center Pau Gasol finally broke loose with a double-double and
looks for his second straight solid effort when the unbeaten San Antonio
Spurs host the Utah Jazz on Tuesday. After three sluggish contests to
begin his stint with the Spurs, Gasol had 20 points and 11 rebounds in
Sunday's 106-99 win over the Miami Heat.
Gasol's big performance came after he averaged six points and six rebounds in his first three games for San Antonio, which is off to a 4-0 start. There were more opportunities for Gasol to score with starting power forward LaMarcus Aldridge being rested. Utah opened a brief two-game road trip with an 88-75 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday and didn't score more than 22 points in any of the quarters. The Jazz are struggling to establish an offensive rhythm with both small forward Gordon Hayward (broken finger) and backup guard Alec Burks (knee) sidelined.
TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, ROOT (Utah), FSN Southwest (San Antonio)
ABOUT THE JAZZ (1-2): Veteran swingman Joe Johnson can be streaky and Utah is seeing that at the outset of the season as he averaged nine points on 7-of-20 shooting in two games after standing out with 29 points on 12-of-16 shooting in the season-opening loss to the Portland Trail Blazers. Starting point guard George Hill scored 18 points on 8-of-13 shooting versus the Clippers as his averaged dropped to 20 per game, and he wasn't impressed with his output against Los Angeles. "I didn't believe it was a good night for me. It's a team game, not individual," Hill told reporters. "My stats don't mean anything if we lose a game like we did."
ABOUT THE SPURS (4-0): All-Star small forward Kawhi Leonard is off to a superb start and had 27 points and six assists in the win over the Heat despite briefly departing in the fourth quarter after being accidentally scratched in the eye. Leonard, who is averaging 28.3 points, displayed his vision was fine by scoring the final 12 San Antonio points of the game. "He took over the game," forward David Lee said. "That's what we expect of him, and he followed through as usual."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Spurs won their past 10 home games against the Jazz.
2. Utah SG Rodney Hood had just five points on 2-of-10 shooting against the Clippers after averaging 20.5 points over the first two games.
3. Backup San Antonio PG Patty Mills is averaging 18 points on 12-of-19 shooting over the past two games.