Utah Jazz vs. Memphis Grizzlies: Keys to the Game

With the Memphis Grizzlies coming into Saturday’s game on the second night of a back-to-back, the Utah Jazz should have a great chance of logging a win over a tough conference foe.

After losing two straight games, the Utah Jazz got back to their winning ways with a solid win over the Los Angeles Lakers last night. While the victory wasn’t overly impressive, the Jazz took care of business and came away with a much-needed win.

On the same night that Gordon Hayward was announced as an All-Star reserve, the Jazz forward looked very much the part as he finished with 24 points on a solid 7-of-14 shooting night from the field.

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Meanwhile, Utah’s Rudy Gobert looked every bit the All-Star snub, as despite not being included among the 2017 All-Stars, he came out with a chip on his shoulder and something to prove, finishing the night with six blocks and 13 rebounds despite posting just a quiet nine points.

More than anything, it was good to see the Jazz put together a game with good offensive and defensive flow and while they allowed the Lakers to hang around, they did an admirable job of finishing them off.

Nevertheless, Utah will have to shore up in several areas if they hope to come away with a win on Saturday against a daunting Memphis team that has defeated the Jazz two out of three times so far this season.

Rodney Hood, who returned to action against LA last night after missing five games, was noticeably and expectedly rusty, but the Jazz will need him to return to his hot shooting ways if they hope to overcome the Grizzlies in tomorrow’s contest.

Even more so, however, the Jazz desperately need George Hill to break out of his slump. He put up yet another miserable shooting performance against the Lakers finishing with just 12 points on 4-of-14 shooting from the field and 1-of-5 from deep. His struggles are causing his shooting percentages to drop quickly as his field goal percentage is now at 47.4 percent and behind the arc he’s at 40.7 percent.

These are still great percentages over the course of a season, but they’ve have dropped nearly 10 percentage points since his pre-concussion play. While it’s not necessarily realistic for him to keep that original rate up through 82 games, he certainly can be more proficient than he’s been over the last seven games or so.

With the Clippers missing Chris Paul and the Thunder now dealing with an injury to Enes Kanter after he broke his arm hitting a chair last night (no, I’m not joking, see below) both the Jazz and Grizzlies could be poised to make a move up the standings. Therefore, it’s quite possible that the two could not only be lobbying for playoff position but could potentially also face one another in the first round as the fourth and fifth seeds.

Therefore, it is critical that the Jazz knot up the season series by earning a victory tomorrow night. Memphis is never an easy team to stop, but if Hood and Hill can show vast improvement and Utah is able to come out on top in the following key areas, they should have a great shot at winning the game.