Jazz at Trail Blazers
The Utah Jazz aim to follow up one of their most impressive victories of the season when they visit the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday. The Jazz stymied the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors 108-103 on Wednesday after losing four of their previous five games.
Utah held the Warriors to 40 percent shooting - including 10 of 31 from 3-point range - and made late-game stops while delivering the stunning victory. "We defended for a full game," Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell told reporters. "We were locked into the game plan. When you play defense like that, and we shoot the way we did, the outcome is going to be the way it was." The Jazz and Trail Blazers are playing two games in five days, including a Christmas night matchup in Salt Lake City. Portland won its past three games and five of its last seven after posting a 99-92 triumph over the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday.
TV: 10 p.m. ET, AT&T SportsNet (Utah), NBCS Northwest (Portland)
ABOUT THE JAZZ (15-17): Mitchell was a porous 5-of-26 shooting while scoring 15 points against the Warriors and he is mired in a three-game shooting slump. Mitchell is just 21-of-69 over the span - a paltry 30.4 percent - despite averaging 21.3 points during the stretch. Center Rudy Gobert matched his season high of four blocked shots and recorded 17 points and 15 rebounds against Golden State for his fifth straight double-digit effort on the glass and his fourth double-double during the stretch.
ABOUT THE TRAIL BLAZERS (18-13): Portland has been receiving strong bench play of late as it outscored the Memphis reserves 44-14 two games after having a 58-26 edge in bench points against the Toronto Raptors. "It's great when guys are getting open, everybody's setting screens and being unselfish, looking for guys and not looking for their own shot, not looking to go one-on-one the whole time," backup forward Zach Collins told reporters. "It's contagious and everyone loves playing like that." Point guard Damian Lillard scored 24 points against the Grizzlies and scored 20 or more points in eight of nine games this month.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The teams split last season's four meetings with both squads scoring 401 total points.
2. Utah PG Ricky Rubio missed all eight of his field-goal attempts versus the Warriors and is 8-for-32 over the past three games.
3. Portland SF Al-Farouq Aminu is averaging 5.5 points over the past two games after putting up 11.8 over the previous four contests.