The Hive Sports

by Alma Bean

Feature Image by Tyler Kaufman of AP Photo

The Utah Jazz (22-23) looks to get back to .500 as they take on the Washington Wizards (7-36).

What to Look For

Coming into this matchup, both teams are looking to end their current losing streaks. Utah currently on a three-game losing streak while Washington is currently on a five-game losing streak. What makes this game interesting lies on Washington’s side. Earlier this morning, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported that Washington will be moving head coach Wes Unseld Jr. to the front office and promoting assistant coach Brian Keefe to the head coaching position. Keefe will remain the interim head coach for the remainder of the season before Washington does an extensive search for their next head coach.

Even with the coaching change, Utah still needs to keep on an eye on this young team. Biggest name to keep an eye out for is Daniel Gafford. Gafford is currently first in the league in field goal percentage at 69.2 percent (71.2 percent true shooting percentage) with 6.2 field goal attempts per game. Along with his offensive efficiency, Gafford defense is allowing him to grab 7.5 rebounds per game and being top-10 in blocks with 2.1 per game. Gafford is averaging around the same minutes as Walker Kessler, only difference is that Gafford starts.

Even with Gafford in the paint, Utah still needs to account for Kyle Kuzma and Jordan Poole. This duo is averaging 38.2/7.4/7.9 on shooting splits of 43.5/32.3/84.4. With these numbers, Utah may want to force Poole to shoot from the perimeter as he’s shooting a team worst 30.7 percent with at least two attempts per game. This may look like a cake walk for Kris Dunn as he currently leads the league in lowest field goal percentage as the closest defender with at least 200 shots defended (39%).

Key of the Game

Ball movement. Washington relies on the court vision of Tyus Jones, who is averaging 6.0 assists per game, but in the month of January those numbers have been elevated to 7.5 assists per game. Utah’s backcourt will need to rely not on just Dunn applying pressure, but Collin Sexton to continue the hot month of January. 

So far this month, Sexton is averaging 22.3 points per game (season-high), 2.3 rebounds, 5.4 assists (season-high), along with 0.9 steals (season-high). What makes this month more impressive for Sexton is that before January, Sexton had 12 games where he had 5+ assists in 33 games played. In the month of January, Sexton has had nine games where he’s had 5+ assists in 12 games played. Utah head coach Will Hardy‘s message of “play hard and pass” has looked to resonate with Sexton and has Utah fans hopefully for what he now brings to the table.

Injury Report

Utah – Taylor Hendricks (G League) Out, Johnny Juzang (G League) Out, Micah Potter (G League) Out, Jason Preston (G League) Out, Brice Sensabaugh (G League) Out

Washington – Isaiah Livers (hip) Questionable

Where to Watch

Tip-off will be at 5:00 p.m. MST on KJZZ and Jazz+.