Utah Jazz Wrap Up Homestand Against Motivated Sixers
Feb 14, 2021, 1:15 PM
(Photo by Alex Goodlett/Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The Utah Jazz will wrap up their four-game homestand on Monday night when they battle a motivated and talent team in the Sixers.
The red-hot Utah Jazz are off to the best start in franchise history with a 22-5 record, while the Sixers have lost their last two games by small margins.
Philadelphia is the No. 1 team in the Eastern Conference and the fourth-best record in the NBA at 18-9. Utah owns the best record in the league, riding a seven-game winning streak and winners of 18 of their last 19.
7️⃣ straight wins. 🎷#TakeNote #MIAatUTAhttps://t.co/d12uvTiwiy
— KSL Sports (@kslsports) February 14, 2021
Sixers Enter Game Against Jazz Motivated
Before Philadelphia started their four-game west coast road trip, they were 17-7 and won 8 of their last 10 games. They started the trip with an 8-point win over the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday, February 9. Then they lost to Portland by four points on Thursday. Their last game was a nine-point loss to the Phoenix Suns.
The Sixers wrap up their four-game trip in Salt Lake City and will want to go back home with a win in their pocket and not a three-game losing streak. Joel Embiid has been a force for Philly, scoring 25 points or more in the last 6 games and over 30 in 5 of the last six games.
He has dropped 35 points in each of his last two games. The big man is leading the Sixers in scoring and rebounding, averaging 29.6 points and 10.8 rebounds. Rudy Gobert will have his hands full on Monday night trying to limit Embiid’s scoring.
Tobias Harris is the second leading scorer averaging 20 points and 7.3 rebounds per game. Ben Simmons is having a solid year, posting averages of 14.1 points, 8.3 boards and 7.9 assists per contest.
Final. pic.twitter.com/31kouAj9nE
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) February 13, 2021
Utah Is Winning In Different Ways
The trend that the Jazz are showing is that they can win by knocking down a lot of three-pointers. They set an NBA record in January for the most threes in a calendar month. Mix the triples with a stifling defense that features two-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert anchoring the paint, that has helped the team to a 22-5 record.
Utah struggled with the three ball on Saturday night in their blowout win over the Miami Heat. They shot just 26 percent from beyond the arc, making just 12 of their 46 attempts. The Jazz still scored 112 points. Miami was held to 94 points and shot 40 percent from the field. Jimmy Butler was held in check, scoring 15 points on 3-of-10 shooting from the floor. Bam Adebayo missed 10 of his 17 shots, finishing with 14 points. Tyler Herro needed 16 shots in order to score 12 points.
The @utahjazz lead by 21 heading into the final quarter against the @MiamiHeat.
Jazz up 78-57.
Donovan Mitchell has 18, Bogey has 16, Niang has 14. #takeNote pic.twitter.com/3ld5alvDnh
— KSL Sports (@kslsports) February 14, 2021
This season, the Jazz have had blowout wins, while grinding out close games as well and even getting victories from their defense.
Tip-off on Monday, February 15 between the Jazz and Sixers will be at 7 p.m. MST and will be televised on AT&T SportsNet.