Jazz Face Emerging Kings In Road Opener

Oct 22, 2021, 2:48 PM | Updated: 3:08 pm

Utah Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell drives against the Sacramento Kings (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

(Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

KSL Sports

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The Utah Jazz will get their first road test of the regular season in Sacramento Friday night when they face the Kings.

Both teams are coming off season-opening wins with the Jazz easily dismantling the Oklahoma City Thunder 107-86 in Salt Lake City while Sacramento traveled to Portland where they beat the Trail Blazers 124-121.

You can listen to a preview of the Jazz and Kings game with Ben Anderson, Jake Scott, and Sacramento insider James Ham in the player below.

Jazz Look For First Road Win

The Jazz will look to extend their win streak over the Kings to five games when they travel to Sacramento. The Jazz swept Sacramento last season in three games, and last lost to the Kings nearly two years ago when they fell to 102-101 thanks to a Harrison Barnes lay-up with two seconds left in the game.

In their season opener, the Jazz took care of business against the Thunder thanks to 22 points from forward Bojan Bogdanovic and 21 rebounds from Rudy Gobert.

The @UtahJazz offense struggled, but the defense thrived in their season opening victory over the @okcthunder.

Plus, Donovan Mitchell's final hurdle before fully overcoming last season's ankle injury. #takenote

https://t.co/xtCNzsPRut

— Ben Anderson (@BensHoops) October 21, 2021

Donovan Mitchell and Mike Conley struggled to shoot the ball combining to connect on just 10-29 from the floor but were impressive defensively limiting Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Lu Dort to a combined 9-27 shooting performance.

Going up against the high-scoring backcourt of the Kings, Mitchell and Conely will have to keep up their defensive intensity and improve on offense for the Jazz to escape with a win.

Kings Look To Win Home Opener

The Kings will look to start the season 2-0 for the second consecutive season after an impressive win over the Trail Blazers on Wednesday.

Sacramento got a career-high 36 points from Barnes, 27 points from De’Aaron Fox, and 21 points from Richaun Holmes while limiting Damian Lillard to 20 points on 8-24 shooting.

𝐇𝐔𝐆𝐄 start for @hbarnes in year 🔟!

Career-High 36 points and eight threes in the opening night W 🔥 pic.twitter.com/wvSECbTMM8

— Sacramento Kings (@SacramentoKings) October 21, 2021

The Kings connected on 17-41 three-point attempts, eight of which came from Barnes on 11 tries, while Buddy Hield added four off the bench.

The hot start to the year was a departure for Sacramento who finished 16th in the NBA in three-point percentage last season and 20th in threes attempted.

The Big Question

While most eyes will be on the star-studded backcourt for both teams, the matchup between Rudy Gobert and Richaun Holmes will be a great test for both centers.

Gobert’s 16 points and 21 rebounds came against the smaller, less athletic Thunder frontcourt, but Holmes will pose a different challenge.

Slamming it 𝙃𝙤𝙡𝙢𝙚𝙨 in Portland 🙌 pic.twitter.com/VQOvO2oVWW

— Sacramento Kings (@SacramentoKings) October 21, 2021

Last season Holmes averaged 21.5 points and 6.0 rebounds against the Jazz in two meetings including a season-high 25 points on the road in Salt Lake City.

Gobert meanwhile averaged 10.3 points and 12.3 rebounds in three Jazz wins.