Utah Jazz are preparing to face the Los Angeles Lakers in a crucial game for both teams. The Jazz return home after a long six-game road trip, which resulted in a season-worst five game losing streak.
The good news for Utah is that the team takes a big step towards being fully healthy as Bojan Bogdanovic and Danuel House Jr. will make their returns to the court Thursday. The Lakers are also desperate to end a losing streak after taking a beating vs Mavericks Tuesday.
They dropped from the No. 3 seed one week ago to the No. 6 seed, a half-game behind No. 5 Denver — who the Jazz have the tiebreaker over. A victory would put them back in the No. 5 seed, just two games behind No. 3 Dallas and No. 4 Golden State.
Utah is coming off a tough defeat at the hands of the Los Angeles Clippers despite having a 25-lead in the first half. Utah was outscored 39-21 over the final 12 minutes in their Monday night loss.
“We don’t get our hands dirty. … It’s just again and again and again,” Gobert told reporters. “It’s the essence of the way we play. I think it bites us. It’s like, we just let go. At this point, good teams just know how to get to us. We just get disconnected.”
Still decimated by injuries, Utah played the final three games of its trip with starter Bojan Bogdanovic and reserves Hassan Whiteside and Danuel House Jr. Whiteside remains out for Thursday’s game.
“I believe we can be good,” head coach Quin Snyder said, via NBA.com. “We have been good. … We are good. That’s an exciting prospect.”
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