The Utah Jazz, who may have found a new star, will try to maintain the momentum built from the end of their road trip when they host the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday in Salt Lake City.
Brice Sensabaugh scored a career-high 34 points, thanks in large part to seven 3-pointers, on Saturday before putting up 27 more points on Sunday to help Utah conclude a three-game trip with victories against the Miami Heat (136-100) and Orlando Magic (105-92) and end a five-game losing streak.
Those were the first 25-point games of Sensabaugh’s career. The second-year forward averages 9.4 points per contest on the season.
“That’s a big win for (Sensabaugh). He’s out here killing,” Utah veteran Collin Sexton said. “Now we’ve got two games at home and we’ve got to get those as well.”
But who will the Jazz have in the starting lineup?
On Sunday, Utah played without starters Lauri Markkanen (lower back spasms), John Collins (personal reasons) and Keyonte George (left heel soreness). All three played at least 26 minutes in the first leg of the back-to-back.
The Jazz have been encouraged by the continued development of center Walker Kessler, an Atlanta native who is averaging 10.4 points and 11.3 rebounds this season. He is shooting 71 percent from the field and leads the team with 14 double-doubles.
“I’m just trying to control what I can control,” Kessler said.
The Hawks have their own injury issues.
After winning the first game of its six-game road trip, Atlanta has lost three in a row and seen its record fall to .500. The Hawks have been beset by injuries and played without second-leading scorer Jalen Johnson (right shoulder soreness) and key reserve Bogdan Bogdanovic (left lower leg injury management) in a 131-105 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday.
The absence of that duo has put increased pressure on Trae Young, who leads the team in scoring at 22.5 points per game.
“You never know who’s gonna be in and who’s gonna be out,” Young said. “So, that’s part of our problem. I don’t think it’s necessarily X’s and O’s, what coach (Quin Snyder) brings up, or certain things that we do.”
In the meeting with Los Angeles, the Hawks had 13 turnovers in the first half, which led to 22 points for the Clippers. The Hawks gave up 26 fastbreak points before intermission, and that sparked Los Angeles to a 20-point halftime lead and an easy victory.
“The way we get our offensive game going and running is get stops in the defensive end, and when we’re giving up 120-plus, 130 a night, we’re not going to get many opportunities to get out and run,” Atlanta guard Dyson Daniels said.
The Hawks did get backup forward/center Onyeka Okongwu back from a five-game absence due to left knee inflammation. In four games since returning, Okongwu has averaged 10.5 points and 7.5 rebounds per game.
Tuesday marks the first of two meetings between the clubs this season. It also marks a homecoming for Snyder, who was coach of Utah for eight seasons (2014-22).
