Both the Utah Jazz and Thunder come into Sunday’s meeting in Oklahoma City coming off blowout losses.
For the Jazz, Friday’s 124-90 loss in New Orleans was an anomaly.
Utah hadn’t been beaten by more than 20 points this season and hadn’t suffered a worse loss since November 2018.
The loss, which snapped a three-game winning streak and was just the Jazz’s second in 11 games, brought up some conflicting emotions.
“We’re upset,” Utah’s Donovan Mitchell said. “But we’re not gonna overreact to this one game.”
Rudy Gobert said the game should be looked up as a wake-up call.
“There’s a lot of things we need to look at on both ends,” Gobert said. “None of us enjoyed losing that way.”
Jazz coach Quin Snyder played it both ways.
“Out of 82 (games), there are gonna be nights like this,” Snyder said. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t look at the game and understand that there are things we can do better.”
Among those, Snyder said, was getting out in transition and attacking the glass.
The Jazz are No. 2 in the NBA in rebounding percentage, at 52.3 percent.
The Thunder are a different story, with the sixth-worst rebounding percentage in the league at 48.9 percent.
But Oklahoma City could challenge Utah in another category. The Thunder rank second in the league in opponent fast-break points with just 10.4 per game while the Jazz, like Oklahoma City, are near the bottom of the league in fast-break scoring at 10.0.
While the Jazz aren’t used to being on the wrong end of blowouts, the Thunder have had plenty of experience with them this season, dropping 12 games by at least 20 points.
Friday’s 138-101 home loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves was Oklahoma City’s second-largest margin of defeat and second-most points allowed this season. Both were behind only the record-setting 152-79 loss at Memphis on Dec. 2.
The Thunder have played their past two games with just nine players available.
Only one starter and two reserves from the last meeting with the Jazz on Nov. 24 played for the Thunder in Friday’s game.
Isaiah Roby was among the Oklahoma City players who didn’t play in that game against Utah.
But Roby, who didn’t have a 20-point game in any of his first 89 NBA games over the past three seasons, comes into Sunday’s game coming off back-to-back games with more than 20 points.
He had 21 points and 10 rebounds in Friday’s loss.
“I don’t think I’ve done anything in the past two games that’s playing outside of myself or outside what I can do every night,” Roby said. “This is something I can consistently do.”
Roby and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander have carried the Thunder offense lately.
Since the All-Star break, Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging 33.4 points per game, with 6.4 assists and 5.8 rebounds.
–Field Level Media