Utah Jazz vs. Sacramento Kings Game Thread

Since dropping four in a row in the middle of November the Utah Jazz have been doing pretty well. They won four in a row and dropped one. They then won three in a row, and dropped one. And then won four in a row again, dropping one. No back-to-back losses since November 14th-20th is remarkable for such a perpetually injured team. The team who is on the doorstop and going to TRY to get Utah to break their pattern? The Sacramento Kings. Sactown is 5-11 on the road this year, and 8-9 against the Western Conference. Are they likely to win tonight? Las Vegas doesn't think so and they are rarely wrong. So does this mean that Utah is going to string together another stretch run of wins? Maybe not either, as the Toronto Raptors are next on tap. So at the very least we do have tonight. A game the Jazz need to win after getting their butts kicked last night.

Game Preview | Five Things to Watch | Overtone | Sactown Royalty

Team Breakdown:

The Kings won last night (beating the Blazers), and the Jazz lost last night (to the Warriors). Overall Utah is the better team. All-time in the regular season the Jazz are 100-81 in the head-to-head battle, and 65-26 at home. The Kings are 17th and 21st in ORTG and DRTG. The Jazz are 8th and 4th respectively. Even AFTER dropping a game to the Dubs by 30 points. Wow.

The Jazz protect their glass and get back on defense -- the outcome is a team that doesn't crash the offensive glass. The Kings are a middle of the pack rebounding team on both ends. The Kings force a lot of turn overs, and the Jazz turn the ball over a lot. So hey! That'll be fun! Hopefully Utah, down four of their best ballhandlers, will be fine tonight.

Fan Map:

A reminder about population density . . . and how both of these teams aren't really doing well outside of their native area codes.

Presumed Starters:

• PG: Darren Collison vs. Shelvin Mack
  
• SG: Ben McLemore vs. Joe Ingles
  
• SF: Matt Barnes vs. Gordon Hayward
  
• PF: Kosta Koufos vs. Boris Diaw
  
• C: DeMarcus Cousins vs. Rudy Gobert

Injuries / Absences:

• PG: George Hill (UTA, OUT), Dante Exum (UTA, OUT)
  
• SG: Rodney Hood (UTA, OUT), Alec Burks (UTA, OUT)
  
• SF: Rudy Gay (SAC, Doubtful), Omri Casspi (SAC, Doubtful)
  
• PF: Derrick Favors (UTA, Good to go), Skal Labissiere (SAC, NBADL)
  
• C: Georgios Papagiannis (SAC, NBADL)

The Jazz are missing their top two PGs and SGs. Yikes. The Kings *could* be missing their top two SFs. Crazy.

GO JAZZ GO!