Jazz Must Improve This Key Defensive Metric vs. Warriors

The Utah Jazz will be looking to snap their two-game losing streak when they face the defending champion Golden State Warriors on Friday night.

The Warriors enter the contest at full strength with zero players on the injury report. On the second game of a back-to-back, head coach Steve Kerr has been resting his core players, which has contributed to a slow start. The end game for the Warriors is always a championship, and time will tell whether Kerr’s strategy pays off.

The Jazz are coming off their most disappointing defeat of the season as they fell to the Detroit Pistons in a game in which Utah was favored by 11 points. The opinions are still all over the map on whether Utah is a contender, and playing a rested Warriors team on the road will be a good test for the upstart Jazz.

Utah is looking for its first win since veteran point guard Mike Conley went down with a knee injury. Conley is Utah’s only natural point guard on the roster, and the Jazz will be searching for some chemistry in their half-court offense that’s been lacking since the injury.

Although, a bigger problem for Utah has been on the defensive end of the court. The Jazz posted a dismal 131.6 defensive rating in their loss to the Detroit Pistons, and if there’s any chance of pulling out a victory on the road, they’ll have to improve in that category.

Tip-off is at 8:00 pm MDT.

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