Jazz Host Weekend Back-To-Back Vs. Spurs, Wizards
Dec 16, 2021, 5:18 PM | Updated: 5:19 pm
Dejounte Murray #5 of the San Antonio Spurs drives into Trent Forrest #3 of the Utah Jazz during a game at Vivint Smart Home Arena on May 3, 2021 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by Alex Goodlett/Getty Images)
(Photo by Alex Goodlett/Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY – The Utah Jazz will host a rare weekend back-to-back at Vivint Arena when they face the San Antonio Spurs and the Washington Wizards on Friday and Saturday.
The Jazz have the NBA’s longest active win streak at eight games and will look to push it to double-digits by sweeping their weekend series.
Both the Spurs and Wizards come into Utah having struggled in recent weeks.
Jazz Look To Build On Streak
The Jazz have been arguable the NBA’s best team over the last three weeks, sporting a perfect 8-0 record while owning the league’s second-best net rating.
After a 12-7 start to the season, the Jazz have climbed to 20-7 and sit within two games of the top record in the NBA behind only the Golden State Warriors and Phoenix Suns.
A look back at some of the numbers that have emerged during the @utahjazz eight-game win streak, and what changed from the beginning of the year. #TakeNote https://t.co/U0UHJdpf4F
— KSL Sports (@kslsports) December 16, 2021
The Jazz have had a blistering 127.4 offensive rating during the win streak fueled largely by red-hot perimeter shooting.
Over the streak, the Jazz have connected on an average of 19.3 threes per game while shooting 44 percent as a team, a jump from the 14.4 threes they averaged over the first 19 games of the season at just a 34 percent completion rate.
Spurs Begin Tough Road Stretch
The Spurs will face the Jazz signaling the beginning of a brutal stretch of road games for the young roster.
San Antonio will play 11 of their next 14 games at home separated by a three-game homestand between Christmas and New Year’s.
Beginning a four game road trip on Friday.#PorVida pic.twitter.com/milqx4Juhr
— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) December 16, 2021
The Spurs are 6-4 in their last 10 games, by far the best stretch of their season, but have lost four of their last six including a 131-115 loss to the Charlotte Hornets at home on Wednesday.
San Antonio is led in scoring by guard DeJounte Murray who is nearly averaging a triple-double at 17.7 points, 8.4 assists, and 8.3 rebounds per game in 27 appearances.
Jazz Look For Wizards Sweep
The Jazz will look to sweep their season series against the Wizards after beating Washington 123-98 last Saturday.
After starting the season 10-3, the Wizards have lost 11 of their last 16 games, including six of their last seven overall.
Rudy Gobert and Hassan Whiteside dominated the @WashWizards in the @utahjazz seventh straight win.
Plus, a franchise record for alley-oops, and the Jazz impressive road play. #takenote https://t.co/3N5vt6eHD8
— KSL Sports (@kslsports) December 12, 2021
The Wizards will be playing the fourth game of their six-game road trip which began with losses to the Denver Nuggets and Sacramento Kings before facing the Phoenix Suns on Thursday night.
The Jazz held the Wizards to just 47 second-half points on Saturday thanks to an 8-25 shooting performance from behind the three-point line.
Broadcasts
The Jazz Jazz will tip-off both Friday and Saturday games at 7 pm MT and can be heard on 97.5 and 1280 The Zone Sports Network. The games will be broadcast on AT&T SportsNet and FuboTV.
