Jazz Play Fourth Straight Road Game

The Utah Jazz head to Minnesota to play their fourth straight road game on Sunday night. After they suffered their seventh loss at the hands of Dallas on Friday night, the Jazz look to find their way out of the early-season rut.

Rookie Darryn Peterson is coming off his first 20-point game of his NBA career, scoring 21 points on efficient shooting against Dallas, which included a 12-point run by himself in a comeback effort.

Utah is desperate to get back on track, and mixing up the lineups may be a good option.

Look for coach Will Hardy to mix up the backcourt tonight. Point guard and primary scorer Keyonte George is the leading scorer for Utah (21.3 points per game). He will look to start off hot and get to his spots. 

On the contrary, Peterson is a similar player, feeling most comfortable with the ball in his hands in pick-and-roll actions, getting to the midrange or driving to the basket. It may be beneficial to play them in separate situations.

Lauri Markkanen will continue to set the tone from behind the arc. The stretch-four is shooting near 40% from 3-point range this season. All eight of his field goals came from deep against Dallas. He finished 8-of-15.

Utah announced on Nov. 6 that big man Jusuf Nurkic will remain out until late November. Nurkic suffered a toe injury on his right foot during the second preseason game on Oct. 2. Jaxson Hayes, Mo Bamba, Tony Bradley and Kyle Filipowski have been handling most of the fill-in work. 

Watch for the rebounding and turnover margin. Both aspects of the game have been hurting Utah this season. The Jazz haven't out rebounded a team since the Spurs on Oct. 28, and rank in the top five in turnovers per game, just north of 17.

The Timberwolves come in at 7-3 and are on a three-game winning streak. Minnesota will be without superstar Anthony Edwards for the sixth game in a row. Edwards will continue to be sidelined until around Christmas after having successful arthroscopic debridement surgery on his right knee on Oct. 29.

Guard LaMelo Ball has been on a solid stretch during the short win streak. He is averaging 25.3 points, 3.3 rebounds and 5.7 assists.

Hardy and the front office have said that the losing streak hasn't affected the evaluation of this young Jazz core. There should be no pressure heading into tonight. Expect the Jazz to go out and play loose.