The Jazz (12-21) are kicking back for some late-night action on the road in San Francisco for their second duel against the Golden State Warriors (18-17). Utah may not be the best…or have any amount of defense in their arsenal, but their opponents are still gonna feel the bruises when they wake up the next day. They post some of the highest scoring teams in the league — they’re the 7th highest with 119.8 points a game. Lauri and Nurkic still seem to have a bad case of winningitis; they’re still listed
as questionable even after Utah’s fourth quarter meltdown in their 118-101 loss in LA. If you’re Danny Ainge, better to be safe than sorry, right? If the season ended today, with the 8th-best lottery odds, they’d still have a 39.3% chance of converting their pick to OKC.
Just so we’re clear: Austin Ainge only meant that the Jazz will not be tanking in the year of 2025.
The calendar flipped to 2026, and the Jazz displayed their longest injury report all season. The rotation went as deep as Cody Williams, Kyle Anderson and even some Oscar Tshiebwe minutes brought to the table. Of course, I’m a sucker for shining vets, and the Big O (why wouldn’t you be?), but Cody Williams brought the best offensive game he had for the table in Los Angeles. He posted a career-high 18 points and 1 block, making 6-10 from the field and 73.8% true shooting.
The Warriors list Curry and Butler as questionable going into tonight; if Cody can have the chance to guard either one of them and play reasonably well, sorry, but you must buy land on Cody Williams’ 12 x 12 plot. He was always going to be a project with his lean, 178 lbs frame on draft night, but he’s added some muscle since then, and there have been several instances of his upside flashing in his limited time on the floor. His minutes should remain steady as long as Ace Bailey is out.
The Warriors are on the latter end of a back-to-back after battling OKC — let’s just say they’re now one loss away from being .500. It comes as no surprise that their offense revolves around putting the ball in the hoop from as far away as they can: they lead in the league in three-point attempts at 30 a night. Golden State struck gold in their first meeting against this group back in November by shooting 19-52 from downtown, blowing the Jazz out of the water to claim victory. Utah couldn’t get it done from beyond the arc in the loss vs. the Clippers, only sinking 6-27 triples (22.2%). If the clip isn’t falling, it’s going to have to be their bread and butter against Golden State. Opponents finish at the rim at a 67.9% rate against them, and the Jazz outscored them 66-56 in the paint in their last duel.
If you’re looking for the player to watch, I mean, no doubt Stephen Curry is going to be the main stockholder and producer in Utah Jazz kryptonite. He leads the league in 3-point attempts at 12.1 a game. In the last seven days, he’s been on a heater: he’s averaging 28.2 points a game on 44.6% shooting and 35.8% from downtown. You’re never going to stop Curry, but you can try your best to limit him from taking over the game. Utah will need to get the ball out of his hands and force it in the hands of: quite literally anyone else. For the Jazz’s sake, I hope it isn’t someone who randomly turns into a deadly shooter — my crystal ball speaks to me and says Pat Spencer, for whatever reason. I’ve seen enough of those in this season alone.
Injury Report
Jazz:
PROBABLE – Lauri Markkanen (left knee contusion)
OUT – Jusuf Nurkic (left toe sprain), Ace Bailey (left hip flexor strain), Georges Niang (left foot, fourth metatarsal stress reaction), Walker Kessler (left shoulder surgery)
Warriors:
PROBABLE – Will Richard (left heel injury)
QUESTIONABLE – Stephen Curry (left ankle sprain), Jimmy Butler III (illness), Jonathan Kuminga (lower back soreness)
OUT – Al Horford (left toe injury), Seth Curry (left sciatic nerve irritation)
How to watch:
Who: Utah Jazz at Golden State Warriors
When: January 3rd, 8:00PM Mountain Time
Where: Chase Center, San Francisco
Channel: Jazz+, KJZZ
Radio: 97.5/1280 The Zone
