When last they met, the Utah Jazz were able to steal an unlikely road win from Kawhi Leonard, LaMarcus Aldridge and the San Antonio Spurs.
What a difference a handful of days makes. Heading into their road bout with the San Antonio Spurs earlier this week, the Utah Jazz were 1-2 and coming off a loss that took the wind out of many fans’ sails.
Fast-forward to now and former Spurs point man George Hill has led the Jazz to back-to-back wins, beginning with a 15-point throttling of Gregg Popovich’s club at the AT&T Center.
However, there’s little time to relish in the Jazz band’s return to the hype train. Round two between the clubs is set for Friday night at the Viv.
About the Spurs: San Antonio’s last game was the aforementioned loss to the Jazz on Tuesday. It was the first time in nearly seven years that Utah was able to get a win in the Alamo City. Bench play was a big factor in the contest, as the Spurs’ vaunted second unit was outscored 45-24.
Despite coming up short, the Spurs got another big effort from Kawhi Leonard, who scored 30 points, hit five three-pointers and nabbed seven boards in the game. He continues to lead the league in player efficiency rating (PER) at 37.04.
Related Story: Jazz vs. Spurs: Keys to the Game
About your Utah Jazz: As impressive as the Spurs win was, I was almost more impressed by their ability to come back the very next night and put the hammer down on Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks despite being short-handed.
Winless though the Mavs may be, it’s always a plus when you can get the W on the second night of a back-to-back set after the long flight home from Texas.
Hill continued to tear it up against Dallas, scoring 25 points, grabbing six rebounds and dishing out four assists. The Jazz also got an encouraging 22-point effort from Rodney Hood. However, defense was the story of the game for Utah. The Jazz held the Mavs to 81 points and just under 27 percent from three-point range in the game.
Rookie Joel Bolomboy, assigned to the D-League’s Salt Lake City Stars just yesterday, has already been recalled to the roster after participating in Stars practice.
Round 2 // TONIGHT pic.twitter.com/GBXNuLoggJ
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) November 4, 2016
Game Data
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T | |
| Jazz | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Spurs | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Broadcast Info
Tip-off: 7:00 PM MT from Vivint Smart Home Arena in Salt Lake City, UT
TV: ROOT Sports
Radio: The Zone Sports Network (97.5 FM & 1280 AM Salt Lake City)
Projected Starting Lineups
Utah Jazz (3-2)
PG: George Hill
SG: Rodney Hood
SF: Joe Johnson
PF: Derrick Favors
C: Rudy Gobert
San Antonio Spurs (4-1)
PG: Patty Mills
SG: Jonathon Simmons
SF: Kawhi Leonard
PF: LaMarcus Aldridge
C: Pau Gasol
Injuries
Gordon Hayward (finger) and Alec Burks (knee) are both out for the Jazz, as is Boris Diaw (leg). For the Spurs, Danny Green (quad strain) is out, while word has it that Tony Parker will sit out with knee soreness.
Prediction
The Westgate Superbook Las Vegas has the Jazz as four-point underdogs against the Spurs. I’ll take the Jazz with the points and wouldn’t be surprised to see them win outright. Still, even if Parker doesn’t play, it’s going to be a tough one.
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Discussion
The Twitter hashtag for Friday’s game is #SASatUTA. You can follow our live tweets @PurpleandBlues1. You can also hit us with a comment in the thread below.