Jazz Search For Fourth Straight Win Against Pistons
Jan 13, 2019, 4:58 PM | Updated: Jan 14, 2019, 10:24 am
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The Utah Jazz are hoping to pick up their fourth straight win of the season when they face the Detroit Pistons at Vivint Smart Home Arena.
On top of the three consecutive victories, Utah has won five of their last six games after they beat the Chicago Bulls 110-102 on Saturday night.
Utah’s 23-21 record is good for ninth place in the Western Conference and have one more loss than the Lakers, who are in the eighth spot.
The last time that the Jazz have won at least four consecutive games was towards the end of last season when they won six straight from March 30 to April 10.
The Pistons are 18-23 on the season. They snapped a four game losing streak on Saturday night with a 109-104 win over the Los Angeles Clippers.
Detroit has lost seven of their last nine games and are in ninth place in the Eastern Conference with one less win than the Charlotte Hornets, who are holding down the eighth seed.
Donovan Mitchell
The second-year star for the Jazz has been spectacular in the last five games, scoring 26 or more points in all five games and has dropped 30 or more points in the last three games.
Mitchell is averaging 30.4 points per game in the last five contests. He has been starting at point guard in the last two games with injuries to Ricky Rubio, Dante Exum and Raul Neto.
During those two games, Mitchell has dished out 15 assists, 9 against the Lakers and 6 against the Bulls.
He has shot 37-of-69 (53 percent) from the field and 12-for-25 (48 percent) from the three-point line in the last three games.
On the season, Mitchell is averaging 21.3 points and 3.7 assists on 42 percent field goal shooting and 32 percent from downtown.
He had 26 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists in the first meeting against the Pistons on January 5, where Utah won 110-105.
Rudy Gobert has played very well in the last five games for Utah as well. He has posted a double-double in four of the last five contests, averaging 12.4 points, 14.8 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game.
He had a career-high 8 assists in Utah’s win over the Bulls.
Blake Griffin, Andre Drummond
The duo for the Pistons has been the backbone of the team. Griffin has scored 30 points or more in three of the four games that he has played. He dropped 44 points against his former team, the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday.
Griffin is averaging 25.6 points, 8.3 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game this season.
Andre Drummond collects most of the rebounds for the Pistons and leaves the scoring to Griffin. He has grabbed 10 rebounds or more in the last six games and over 14 boards in four of the last five games.
Drummond averages 16.8 points and a league-best 15 rebounds per game this season.
The Jazz and Pistons will tip-off at 7 p.m. on Monday. The game will be broadcast on AT&T SportsNet.
