Game thread: Utah Jazz looking for 5th straight win
By Caleb Manser
The Utah Jazz take on the Charlotte Hornets in Queen City in an early game this afternoon
The Utah Jazz are looking to build their longest win streak of the season this afternoon in Charlotte. Their play on the season so far, specifically the bench, has raised red flags that the Jazz need some sort of personnel or rotation change.
Despite the red flags and sloppy play Utah sits at 17-11 and sixth place in the Western Conference. For reference, they were 13-15 at this point a year ago. The latest win streak and dominant play from Donovan Mitchell and Bojan Bogdanovic is encouraging; but is it anything to write home about given their level of competition?
The Jazz will catch another below .500 opponent tonight in Buzz City. I thought the Charlotte Hornets would be the worst team in the league before the season started, given that they lost their only above average player in Kemba Walker. I wasn’t quite sold on Terry Rozier replacing the level of production Walker left behind, and I wasn’t sure anyone on the Hornets could step up to fill that void.
Second year player Devonte’ Graham leads the team in scoring and assists averaging 19 and 7 a game, while attempting a hefty amount of triples. As a second round pick in 2018 nobody really saw this coming, and Graham is a big reason why the Hornets sit at eighth place in the Eastern Conference.
Charlotte has three players in its starting lineup under 26 years old, and is led by a second year head coach. In a lot of ways, this is similar to the Thursday night game Utah won in Atlanta. If Utah can take advantage of Charlotte’s youthful moments and manage to cut down on their own turnovers, a victory should be in the books for the Jazz.
https://twitter.com/utahjazz/status/1208413315354939392
Game Data
Broadcast Info
Tip-off: 3:00 PM on December 21 from Spectrum Center in Charlotte, NC.
TV: AT&T SportsNet
Radio: The Zone Sports Network (97.5 FM and 1280 AM Salt Lake City)
Projected Starting Lineups
Utah Jazz Position Charlotte Hornets
Bojan Bogdanovic SF Miles Bridges
Joe Ingles SG Devonte’ Graham
Donovan Mitchell PG Terry Rozier
Injuries
Mike Conley is out for the Utah Jazz. He is travelling with the team on this road trip and his left hamstring will be reevaluated before they return home.
PJ Washington is out of action for the Charlotte Hornets with a finger injury, and isn’t expected to return until December 27th.
Prediction
The Jazz are listed as six point favorites over at the Action Network for this one. The Hornets have a one day rest advantage over the Jazz and are playing in their home arena. I think this game will be another close one as they have been all week, and Utah will drop this one by two points.
The final score will be right around 106 to 104, and Utah will look to regather themselves against the red hot Miami Heat on Monday.
Next. Christmas wishlist for every Utah Jazz player. dark
Discussion
The twitter hashtag is #UTAatCHA and as always the comment thread will be up and running. Go Jazz!