Jazz at Nuggets
Gordon Hayward has suddenly found himself in a slump, and he's pulled the Utah Jazz down with him. Hayward and the Jazz will try to emerge from a funk and snap a three-game losing streak when they visit the Denver Nuggets on Sunday night.
After returning from a finger injury earlier this month to record at least 20 points in five straight games and help Utah go 4-1, Hayward is averaging 10 points on 26.2 percent shooting in three consecutive losses. It was a nine-point effort for Hayward in Saturday's 111-102 loss at Houston, which turned the ball over just four times against the Jazz. The Nuggets are 1-1 on a four-game homestand after a 113-111 loss to Toronto in overtime Friday night, their fifth setback in six games overall. Emmanuel Mudiay missed a potential game-winning heave at the buzzer but finished with 25 points for Denver, which has allowed at least 103 points in eight consecutive contests.
TV: 9 p.m. ET, ROOT (Utah), Altitude (Denver)
ABOUT THE JAZZ (7-7): Utah is 3-4 when playing without point guard George Hill, who missed his seventh straight game with a thumb injury on Saturday and is still considered day-to-day. Dante Exum has started five in a row in Hill's place but has yet to record more than two assists in any of those affairs after Hill produced at least three in each of his seven games. Rodney Hood scored 25 points - his best total since the season opener - against Houston while hitting 5-of-8 from 3-point range, emerging from a slump that saw him make just 3-of-18 triples over the course of three games.
ABOUT THE NUGGETS (4-8): Denver is 0-2 in overtime and 1-4 in games decided by three points or fewer, often finding the wrong time to commit some of its Western Conference-high 17.3 turnovers per game. "You have to have your head in the game," coach Michael Malone told reporters after the Nuggets turned it over 19 times in the loss to Toronto. “We need more discipline. A disciplined team wins most times, and the undisciplined team is going to lose. We as a team have to be more disciplined." Mudiay entered Saturday ranked fifth in the NBA in turnovers (4.3 per game) and he continues to struggle with his long-range shot, missing all seven of his 3-point attempts against the Raptors and going 1-of-15 over the last three games.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Nuggets F Wilson Chandler is averaging 23.7 points on 52.9 percent shooting in the last three games.
2. The Nuggets have dropped five straight meetings while being held under the 90-point mark each time.
3. The teams square off three times in a span of two weeks, as Denver visits Utah on Wednesday and again on Dec. 3.