Jazz seek solutions for shooting slump againist Nets
SALT LAKE CITY -- Offensive struggles have reached a new low for Utah. No solution seems to be in sight amid a four-game losing streak compounded by uglier and uglier losses.
The Jazz (5-7) struggled through one of their worst shooting performances yet in an 84-74 loss to Miami on Friday night, connecting on just 4 of 33 from the field after halftime. They scored a season-low 25 second-half points and were held scoreless in the final three minutes.
It doesn't bode well with the Brooklyn Nets coming to Salt Lake City on Saturday fresh off a 101-97 win over Portland on Friday night.
"Whether it's confidence, continuity or connectivity or whatever the case is, we just have to grind through it," Jazz coach Quin Snyder said. "There isn't a magic bullet right now that we're going to figure out. We'll keep trying to address the things we can."
Utah (5-7) shot a combined 31.8 percent from the floor in its last two home losses to Miami and Philadelphia.
The Jazz guards are struggling the most in that stretch. Rodney Hood is 9 of 33 from the floor in his last two games. Donovan Mitchell is 8 of 35. Ricky Rubio is 4 of 21.
Snyder tried to inject life into the offense by inserting Mitchell into the starting lineup in place of Hood against the Heat. It worked for a half.
Hood took moving to the bench in stride. He came out with a more aggressive mindset and got to the free throw line -- going 8 of 8 from the stripe. But he struggled from the perimeter, missing eight of nine attempts.
"I feel like if a couple of shots go down, it breaks open the whole game for us," Hood said. "I'm a team guy. I've always been a team guy. We need a win badly, so it's not really about anybody individually right now."
Brooklyn has a whole different set of problems to deal with now. The Nets (5-7) improved to 2-2 on their Western Conference road trip after beating the Blazers, but their depth is paper thin after a slew of injuries to key players.
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (hip), Trevor Booker (back) and Jarrett Allen (foot) have all missed time with various ailments. Jeremy Lin suffered a season-ending patella tendon injury in the season opener.
The injury bug has caused Brooklyn to use patchwork lineups at times to work around it.
D'Angelo Russell has been a stabilizing influence on the offense through some of the rough stretches. Russell is averaging 17.3 points and 7.0 assists on the team's current road trip. He totaled totaled 21 points and nine assists against Portland -- highlighted by a step-back jumper and driving layup in the final minute that helped secure the win.
"I thought he read the game well and picked his spots," Nets coach Kenny Atkinson told YES Network after the game. "It seems like the games we've done well offensively, he picks his spots. He waits until the end to really go to work in the pick-and-roll and, before that, gets everybody else involved. I thought he did a nice job of balancing that out."
Utah swept the season series with Brooklyn a year ago, winning the two games by an average of 18.5 points. It was the first sweep for the Jazz over the Nets since the 2014-15 season.
