Suns at Jazz
The Utah Jazz were not happy with their performance in a loss at Atlanta on Thursday and looked like a different team while capping the four-game road trip with a 114-83 demolition of the Chicago Bulls on Saturday. The Jazz, who are winners of six of their last seven contests, will try to continue their push up the Western Conference standings when they return home to host the Phoenix Suns on Monday.
Utah held the Bulls to 35.9 percent from the floor and blocked eight shots in Saturday's win after allowing the Hawks to knock down 19 3-pointers and shoot 47.1 percent from the floor in the 117-114 setback. "We had a rough night in Atlanta, but we came in today locked in - especially defensively," Jazz center Rudy Gobert told reporters after Saturday's triumph. "We had a great defensive first half, and the offense took care of itself. Our defense set the tone tonight." The Suns own the worst record in the West and watched their latest slide hit three straight with a 112-103 setback at Sacramento on Saturday in the opener of the two-game trip. "They're on a mission to finish this thing strong," Phoenix coach Igor Kokoskov told reporters of Utah. "Tough place to play. We have to regroup ourselves. We'll come ready to compete and play. We respect the Utah Jazz, but we don't fear those guys. We're going to play hard."
TV: 9 p.m. ET, FS Arizona (Phoenix), AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain (Utah)
ABOUT THE SUNS (17-57): Rookie center Deandre Ayton is trying to finish out his first season strong and put Saturday's loss on his shoulders due to a pair of defensive breakdowns. "My head is all messed up," Ayton told the Arizona Republic. "They ran the same play, went too early, Marvin (Bagley III) got the and-1. I knew I messed up in both situations. I was just trying to clean up as much as I can, but it was one of those time and possession. Yeah, it was bad." Ayton's night wasn't all bad as he finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds for his 37th double-double.
ABOUT THE JAZZ (43-30): Utah enters play on Sunday in a three-way tie for the No. 5 spot in the West, one game clear of the eighth-place San Antonio Spurs. The Jazz will play their next seven games against teams out of the race in their respective conferences and get the next four at home after posting double-digit wins in six of the last seven contests. "I just want us to keep getting better," Utah coach Quin Snyder told reporters. "We obviously didn't play as well as we could in Atlanta. I thought we did some good things (Saturday). We've got to be able to not have to say, 'We didn't play as good as we could.'"
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Gobert is 35-of-42 from the floor over the last five games and shot 50 percent or better in each of his last 11 contests.
2. Phoenix SF Josh Jackson (ankle) sat out Saturday's game and is day-to-day.
3. Utah took the last five meetings by an average of 23 points.