The Utah Jazz (13-25) take on the league’s best Golden State Warriors (29-5) tonight at EnergySolutions Arena at 7:00 PM. The Jazz come into the game losers of 2 in a row after losing to Oklahoma City and Houston on the road. The Warriors have won 6 straight games, all of which were at home.
The Warriors are averaging 109.2 points per game which is 1st in the NBA and also lead the NBA in assists per game at 26.8. The Warriors are also one of the top defensive teams as they only give up 98.2 points per game, which ranks 11th in the NBA. Stephen Curry leads the team in scoring at 22.9 points per game while Klay Thompson is 2nd at 21.6 points per game. Curry also leads the team in assists (8.0) and steals (2.2). He is a great all-around player and is having an outstanding season.
The Utah Jazz on the other hand are 24th in the NBA in scoring at 96.0 points per game and average 20.2 assists per game which is also 24th in the league. They will need to play mistake-free basketball against the Warriors if they want to have a chance. They give up turnovers and allow the Warriors to score at will. Gordon Hayward at shoot around this morning talked about how important communication will be tonight when the Jazz and Warriors square off. Here is the audio of Gordon Hayward with the media following shoot around:
Utah Jazz Center Enes Kanter will get the start tonight after coming off of the bench against Houston in their last game as he came back from a sprained ankle. He says he is feeling good and ready to go. Here is Kanter with the media following shoot around this morning:
Utah Jazz Head Coach Quin Snyder just wants his team to compete tonight against the Waariors. They lost last time played each other as the Warriors picked up the 101-88 win. Here is Quin Snyder with the media talking about tonight’s matchup:
The Jazz will be without Rodney Hood as he is still recovering from left foot inflammation. Trevor Boooker missed shoot around as he was out with the stomach flu. He is listed as doubtful for tonight game against the Warriors.