Spurs Will Be Without Four Players in Today’s Bout vs. Utah Jazz

Both the San Antonio Spurs and Utah Jazz are facing several injuries leading up to today’s showdown between the two teams.

Let’s get one thing straight. It’s never easy to come away with a victory over the San Antonio Spurs. But at least in this afternoon’s bout in San Antonio, the Utah Jazz will have a little bit of help as four important Spurs players will be out of commission.

It was reported yesterday that San Antonio will be without the services of LaMarcus Aldridge (thumb sprain), Manu Ginobili (rest), Danny Green (quad contusion) and Dejounte Murray (groin). This is quite a blow for the Spurs as Aldridge and Green are both starters while Manu is essentially the sixth man and Murray has become a key member of the reserve unit.

Aldridge is San Antonio’s second leading scorer at 17.5 points per game, trailing only Kawhi Leonard. He also pulls down an average of 7.5 rebounds per game and has obviously become an essential part of the Spurs’ success. Ginobili, meanwhile, continues to find a way to contribute, not only putting in 7.7 points per game, but always seeming to find a way to come up with big shots when the team needs them most.

Then of course Green is a renowned sharpshooter (though his production and efficiency have taken somewhat of a dip the past two seasons) and Murray has shown flashes of brilliance at times as he looks to come into his own as a rookie on a deep San Antonio squad.

With four key players out of the rotation, hopefully the Jazz can find a way to contain the Spurs’ other key contributors such as Kawhi Leonard, Pau Gasol, Tony Parker and Patty Mills, and take advantage of their own depth to come away with the win.

Unfortunately, the Jazz will once again be dealing with injury issues of their own as for the second straight game George Hill (groin strain), Raul Neto (groin strain) and Derrick Favors (knee contusion) will all be out. Favors, of course has been out for quite some time and there’s been no real timetable announced concerning his return while Hill and Neto’s injuries were somewhat surprising recent developments and presumably aren’t terribly serious.

Therefore, with so many players missing on both teams for today’s contest, the victor will likely be the team that has the most guys step up. Lately for the Jazz Shelvin Mack has been one of those guys as he’s posted games of 15 and 14 points, respectively. Joe Ingles has also been solid off the bench and Dante Exum filled in admirably in the absence of George Hill in Friday’s victory over Washington.

If that trio of guys along with others can be reliable contributors again tonight, then the Jazz could very well come away with a victory over a wounded Spurs team.

However, whether or not that ends up being the case, it’s clear that Utah’s biggest focus right now is to be healthy heading into the playoffs. Given that they’ve already clinched a spot and that it’s very unlikely that they drop any further down the standings than sixth place, finding a way to be in peak health by the time the postseason rolls around is undoubtedly their most important goal.

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This team is 11-2 when its starting lineup of Hill, Hood, Hayward, Favors and Gobert is in action and it’s more than likely that the team is being cautious with some of its banged up guys in an effort to reach that objective.

Nevertheless, that doesn’t diminish the importance of today’s game and despite injuries to both teams, Utah better be ready to come out and compete so that they can potentially earn a statement win and strengthen their grip on the fourth seed.

All stats courtesy of NBA.com