Jazz Look To Extend League-Best Winning Streak Against Spurs

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The Utah Jazz will look to continue their league-best four-game winning streak as they return from the NBA All-Star break on Friday against the San Antonio Spurs. The Jazz entered the break with the Western Conference’s fourth-best record as they gear up for the final 28 games of the season in a push towards the postseason. 

The Jazz and Spurs last met January 29th with San Antonio handing Utah their second loss in what would become a five-game losing streak. The Spurs beat the Jazz 127-120 and were led by guard DeMar DeRozan who scored a season-high 38 points. DeRozan made 11-19 field goal attempts and went to the free-throw line a staggering 19 times, connecting on 16 of his attempts. 

Donovan Mitchell contributed 31 points for the Jazz and Jordan Clarkson added 20 points off the bench, but the Spurs shot a combined 56 percent from the floor to beat the Jazz in the two team’s initial meeting of the season. 

3️⃣5️⃣ points for @DeMar_DeRozan! pic.twitter.com/zySmpRHXWV

— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) January 30, 2020

Since the meeting, the two teams have gone in opposite directions. While the Jazz would proceed to lose their next three games, they’d finish the first half of the regular season by winning four games over likely playoff teams. 

Meanwhile, the Spurs have won just two of their last seven games, including a five-game losing streak dividing the victories. 

If San Antonio has real hopes of making the playoffs, they’ll have to make a furious push to close the season to catch the eight seeded Memphis Grizzlies. The Spurs own the 10th seed in the West but are a full five games behind the Grizzlies for the final playoff spot. The two teams will face each other one more time before the season ends. 

ᗰOᐯEᔕ pic.twitter.com/Qp6vLLKyGA

— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) January 30, 2020

The contest between the Jazz and San Antonio marks the first of three meetings between the two teams over the final 28 games of the season. The two teams will meet again on March 22 and March 24 in a home-and-home series, culminating in Salt Lake City. 

The game against San Antonio is the first of a five-game homestand to open the second half of the season for the Jazz. Houston travels to Utah Saturday night to face the Jazz in rare back to back home games, before hosting Phoenix, Boston, and Washington over the next week. 

The Jazz are just one half-game behind the Los Angeles Clippers who own West’s fourth seed and are 1.5 games behind the Denver Nuggets for the second seed in the West. 

Over the team’s final 28 games, the Jazz will play just 12 teams with a winning record, and a total of 18 games against teams that could realistically make a push towards the postseason. 

According to tankathon.com, the Jazz have the 15th easiest schedule remaining over the final 28 games. The Nuggets meanwhile have the league’s 9th toughest schedule, though the Clippers have the eight easiest. 

craft·y
/ˈkraftē/

eg. mike conley's layup shown here pic.twitter.com/4ssF7tGRkG

— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) February 8, 2020

Mike Conley has missed each of the Jazz last two games as he continues to deal with both load management returning from his strained hamstring, and an illness that forced him to miss the Jazz victory over the Miami Heat. The veteran guard will sit out the game against San Antonio to increase the likelihood that he’ll be available to face Houston on Saturday.

The Jazz and Spurs will tip-off at 7 p.m. MST at Vivint Smart Home Arena, the game can be seen on AT&T SportsNet.