The visiting Utah Jazz look to continue a run of solid play and build on their two-game winning streak when they square off against the struggling San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday in a Western Conference clash.
The Jazz have won five of their past seven games, with the most recent outing a 126-119 victory in Toronto on Saturday. Lauri Markkanen and Jordan Clarkson led Utah with 30 points apiece as the Jazz roared back from a 17-point, second-quarter deficit with an overwhelming fourth period.
Utah trailed by 13 after three quarters but began the fourth with a 10-0 run and tied the game on Clarkson’s layup with 6:44 to play. The Jazz went on to lead by as many as 10 points as Clarkson, who was supposed to be on a minutes restriction with a hamstring injury, hit for 16 of his points in the fourth quarter.
“The team stuck together and obviously we rode that last group for a long time,” Jazz coach Will Hardy said. “We had a couple of guys who played like 19 or 18 straight minutes. That was just because I felt like that group had a great rhythm.
“That’s a moment where, as the coach, you’re trying to stay out of the way and not ruin a good thing, so credit to the team.”
Collin Sexton added 16 points and Walker Kessler and John Collins each contributed 10 for Utah.
Tuesday’s game is the fourth of a five-game, cross-country (and cross-border) road trip for the Jazz. On Saturday, Utah played without Keyonte George and Talen Horton-Tucker, both of whom have been battling foot injuries.
The Spurs head home for Tuesday’s game before getting back on the road. San Antonio has dropped four in a row, including all three on a road trip that ended with a 144-119 setback in Dallas on Saturday.
Jeremy Sochan led the Spurs with 23 points, hitting a career-high four 3-pointers while grabbing nine rebounds. Keldon Johnson came off the bench for the first time this season and added 16 points, Zach Collins and Sandro Mamukelashvili had 14 apiece and Malaki Branham tallied 12.
San Antonio has lost 22 of its past 23 games and has been outscored by an average of 23.3 points per game in four contests since snapping an 18-game losing streak on Dec. 15.
“We have a next-play mentality,” Sochan said of the losing streak. “It’s unfortunate, but we feel like we believe in each other. We just have to play through it. It is what it is at the end of the day, and we have to keep going.”
San Antonio played in Dallas without rookie phenom Victor Wembanyama, who was ruled out just prior to tip-off with a right ankle sprain after he stepped on the foot of a ball boy in warmups.
Wembanyama has missed two of the Spurs’ past three games.
“Maybe he (Wembanyama) could have played, probably could have played, if it had been a playoff game, I probably would have played him,” San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said. “He’s not happy about (sitting out), but I would rather err on the conservative side. … It is just a freak accident before the game.”
–Field Level Media