Jazz at Suns
The Phoenix Suns have followed up a franchise-worst, 17-game losing streak with a stellar stretch of performances. Phoenix looks for its sixth win in the past eight games when it hosts the Utah Jazz on Wednesday.
The Suns posted one of the most stunning upsets of the season by recording a 115-111 road victory over Golden State on Sunday, snapping a streak of 18 straight setbacks against the Warriors. "It shows a lot about us. After All-Star break, most people could fold and it's happened in the past years here," star shooting guard Devin Booker told reporters. "We came in after All-Star break as a team and it was like we're going to finish this thing off the right way. We've improved in so many different ways." Utah has lost back-to-back games and three of its past four to fall to eighth place in the Western Conference race. The Jazz suffered a 98-89 home loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday for their lowest output since having the same total in a 96-89 loss to the Orlando Magic on Dec. 15.
TV: 10 p.m. ET, AT&T SportsNet (Utah), FS Arizona
ABOUT THE JAZZ (37-29): Utah shot just 36.4 percent from the field against the Thunder with star shooting guard Donovan Mitchell (8-of-22) and forwards Jae Crowder (5-of-15) and Joe Ingles (2-of-9) being among the players experiencing an off-night. "I liked how we competed on the defensive end. The offense will come," Jazz coach Quin Snyder said afterward. "We've just got to maintain a defensive mindset. It was a tough night offensively. We had some open looks and missed some stuff at the rim, and at one point cut it to five in spite of that." Mitchell tallied 25 points despite his suspect shooting and he is averaging 29.9 points over the past nine games.
ABOUT THE SUNS (16-52): Booker registered 37 points and 11 assists in the win over Golden State and he is averaging 33.7 points over the past three games while feeling encouraged about the recent run of success. "This team has changed in many ways where when we're down and teams go on runs we come together more than we ever have and that's been the success for us," Booker said. "That's why we've been able to pull out big wins of late. When teams go on runs, that's when we need each other more than ever." Booker scored at least 35 points on 11 occasions this season, one behind the franchise mark held by Hall of Famer Connie Hawkins.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Jazz won the past four meetings by an average of 24.5 points, including a 116-88 home win on Feb. 6.
2. Phoenix SF Kelly Oubre Jr. scored 22 points on 9-of-14 shooting against Golden State and is averaging 19.8 points over the past 10 contests.
3. Utah PG Ricky Rubio (hip) missed the past two games and is questionable for Wednesday.