The Utah Jazz returned to practice after two games on the road. They played the Phoenix Suns (39-38) on Friday, and the Sacramento Kings (26-50) on Sunday.
Friday night, the Suns edged the Jazz in the final quarter. In the final seconds of the game, Jazz SF Rodney Hood attempted to clench a 3 point shot that would have put the Jazz in the lead. The shot was interrupted by Suns PJ Tucker, there was no call, and Phoenix claimed victory, 87-85.
The Jazz bounced back and won their second game on the road against the Sacramento Kings, with contributions from defense, and a great effort shown offensively from off the bench.
An additional 42 points were accumulated by Joe Ingles, Trevor Booker, Bryce Cotton, Chris Johnson, Elijah Milsap and Jeremy Evans.
Rodney Hood’s improvements on offense and defense are continuing to develop, while reaping the rewards of his work in the post season. In the game against Phonenix- Rodney had 17 points, and 1 steal. He scored 25 points against the Sacramento Kings and had 4 steals.
LISTEN TO RODNEY HOOD TALK TO THE MEDIA FOLLOWING PRACTICE ON TUESDAY HERE:
Jazz head coach Quin Snyder has been impressed with the efforts coming off the bench, as the players have progressed during the season. Snyder said that as a team, the Jazz are continuing to focus on efficiency and passing the ball, and also defensive rebounding- he said that they have improved on their “discipline and disruption.”
“It’s a collective effort. Everybody is looking to get better individually as well,” said Snyder.
“It’s interesting at one point – we had the five guys that started the year for us – not one of them was in the game, which was unusual…It’s pretty neat to see what a collective mindset and a collective pride and identity can do in a given period of time.”
LISTEN TO COACH SNYDER TALK TO THE MEDIA FOLLOWING PRACTICE HERE:
The Utah Jazz host the Sacramento Kings at EnergySolutions Arena on Wednesday, April 8th, 2015 at 7:00 pm
