The Utah Jazz, who languish in the basement of the Western Conference, are going from facing one hot team to another when the Milwaukee Bucks visit Salt Lake City on Monday night.
Entering play Saturday, the Bucks and the Memphis Grizzlies had each won five games a row. The Grizzlies ran their streak to six games by routing the Jazz 125-103. It was Utah’s fifth consecutive loss, eighth in nine games and 13th in the last 16.
Milwaukee is coming off a 127-117 road loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, but the Bucks have still won eight of their last 10 games.
MVP candidate Giannis Antetokounmpo and perennial All-Star Damian Lillard continue to lead the way for Milwaukee. Antetokounmpo scored 36 points against the Clippers, while Lillard racked up his fifth career triple-double with 29 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds.
This will be the second stop in the Bucks’ four-game road trip, which includes games at Portland (Tuesday) and San Antonio (Friday). Then they return home to take on Memphis on Feb. 2.
“When you’re on a road trip, you gotta get the first one,” Antetokounmpo said. “You gotta feel good, you gotta get the first one and everything else falls in place. We wasn’t able to get the first one.
“Now we have a tough one coming up against Utah. It’s a hard place to play. It doesn’t matter if they’re the best team in the NBA or the worst team in the NBA. It’s very, very hard to play in Utah. We gotta be locked in and set the tone early, get back on track after this game.”
Milwaukee beat the Jazz 123-100 at home in November but lost 123-108 in Salt Lake City last February.
Utah has fully committed to a rebuild this season, though, and has struggled at home, winning just three of 18 games when the team has traditionally enjoyed a decisive homecourt advantage. Instead, the Jazz have fared better on the road, going 7-18.
Utah plays five of its next six games at home, including four straight after a game at Golden State on Tuesday.
The Jazz are returning from an 0-4 road trip, which started with back-to-back losses at New Orleans, followed by setbacks at Oklahoma City and Memphis. Injuries continue to plague Utah, which was led by Collin Sexton’s 20 points and Walker Kessler’s 11 points and 10 rebounds on Saturday.
Outside shooting woes doomed the Jazz against the Grizzlies, leading to a damaging 17-point third quarter. Utah hit just 12 of 47 3-pointers, including a combined 2-of-24 night by Sexton (1 for 8), Lauri Markkanen (1 for 8) and Keyonte George (0 for 8).
Jazz coach Will Hardy believes his key guys will have better shooting nights going forward.
“When a guy like Lauri is 0-for-5, you tell him to shoot the sixth, seventh and eighth one — that’s just the way we’re gonna play, and that’s how I believe in our team operating,” Hardy said. “Same thing with Collin, same thing with Keyonte. … It was just a tough night shooting the ball.”
–Field Level Media
