Following back-to-back, nail-biting wins, the Sacramento Kings return to action Wednesday night. Their opponent? The Utah Jazz, another Playoff bound team in the NBA’s Western Conference.
The Jazz enter this evening’s contest following a 108-100 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Monday. Despite coming into Wednesday’s game fresh off the heels of victory, Utah has struggled to find their footing as of late. Over the last 10 games, they’ve posted an average 5-5 record. With a victory in Sacramento, the Jazz hope to build some momentum as they prepare for their first Playoff appearance in five years.
In their previous meeting with the Kings, Utah staged their largest comeback of the season. They Jazz rallied from a 16-point deficit to defeat Sacramento 110-109 in overtime earlier this month at Golden 1 Center.
The Kings, meanwhile, are aiming to beat their third-straight postseason-bound opponent after stunning victories over the Los Angeles Clippers and the Memphis Grizzlies. On Monday night, the Kings defeated the Grizzlies with their own brand of grit-and-grind hoops, holding Memphis to 34.4-percent shooting from the field for the entire contest. In a game with 14 lead changes, Sacramento turned to veteran point guard Darren Collison to lead them to victory. With 14 seconds left in regulation, Collison drew a timely shooting foul, which sent him to the line to seal a 91-90 win.
Key Matchup
Rodney Hood has become one of the Jazz’s main offensive threats. With Gordon Hayward’s status for tonight’s contest still undetermined, expect Hood to challenge the Kings stable of wing defenders, which includes Garrett Temple, Arron Afflalo and Tyreke Evans. In his last game against Sacramento, Hood scored a season-high 28 points on 10-of-17 shooting.
Did You Know?
The Jazz are 19-6 when Hood scores 15 points or more. They are 19-8 when he shoots 40 percent or better from 3-point distance. Those stats are just more reason for the Kings to key in on the former Duke Blue Devil tonight.
Broadcast Information
The game will be streamed online on CSN California. Fans can also tune into the action on Sports 1140 KHTK Radio and the Sacramento Kings + Golden 1 Center App. Follow Kings.com with live updates and postgame content on Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook.
Next Up
