The Utah Jazz (2-3) welcome in the Oklahoma City Thunder (4-1) to EnergySolutions Arena tonight at 7:00 PM in preseason action as the Jazz will be playing their second to last preseason game. This is the Thunder’s final preseason game. The Jazz have lost 3 straight games after starting off their preseason schedule with two wins against the Los Angeles Lakers in Hawaii. The Thunder picked up a win on Sunday night against the Denver Nuggets 111-98. Tonight marks another return for former Jazzman Enes Kanter who scored 18 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in Sunday’s win.
The Jazz will need to step up their efforts defensively tonight as the Thunder are averaging 104.4 points per game, 111 points in their 4 wins. As this is the final tune-up for the Thunder before they begin their regular season schedule on Wednesday against the San Antonio Spurs, will Billy Donovan give his main guys major minutes, or will he hold them back a bit?
Utah Jazz forward Gordon Hayward is expecting to play tonight after missing Sunday’s game with a lower back contusion. He participated in practice yesterday as well as at shoot around this morning.
The Utah Jazz waived two players this morning as they release guard Bryce Cotton and guard/forward Treveon Graham. Cotton appeared in two preseason games, averaging 6.5 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 0.5 assists. Graham also appeared in two games for the Jazz during the preseason.
Utah Jazz Head Coach Quin Snyder wants to see where his team is at defensively tonight as they take on one of the better teams in the Western Conference. Here is Quin with the media following shoot around:
Utah Jazz forward Derrick Favors also talked with the media following shoot around. Here is that audio:
