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Armed with a win, Jazz welcome Spurs to Salt Lake

Nov 15, 2013 - 3:16 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The San Antonio Spurs are off to another promising start and have competed as what some deem as a well-oiled machine.

The Spurs look to keep the gears grinding Friday in a road matchup with the Utah Jazz and have won six in a row to improve to 8-1, the best record in the Western Conference.

After dismantling both New York and Philadelphia on the road, the Spurs made a brief return to the Alamo City and disposed the Washington Wizards Wednesday, 92-79. Tony Parker led six players in double digits with 16 points, while Boris Diaw added 15 off the bench. Diaw started in place of Tim Duncan (rest) on Monday in Philadelphia and was back on the bench.

Duncan had just two points and eight rebounds for the Spurs, who shot 50.6 percent from the floor and got 13 points from Kawhi Leonard. Tiago Splitter scored 12 points and both Manu Ginobili and Marco Belinelli had 10.

"We knew we had to stop guys like John Wall and Bradley Beal because they had been playing very well," said Parker. "I thought our team did well overall on pick-and-rolls and transition defense. I think this is where we want to be defensively."

The Spurs are second in the NBA in opponent's scoring (90.1 ppg) and differential (9.3) and will put a three-game winning streak on the road to the test. They are 4-1 away from the AT&T Center, where they are 4-0.

Utah finally cracked the win column in its last game, a 111-105 victory versus the New Orleans Pelicans in Salt Lake City.

The Jazz had opened the season 0-8 -- the worst start since an 0-11 record in their inaugural 1974-75 campaign in New Orleans. In the hard-fought triumph over the Pelicans, Gordon Hayward scored 27 points and Enes Kanter ended with 21 and 10 rebounds.

Richard Jefferson netted 22 points and Derrick Favors contributed 12 points and 12 rebounds for the Jazz, who made 51.4 percent of their shots and prevailed despite committing 21 turnovers for 30 New Orleans points.

"When you're 0-8, you just got to go out there and lay it on the line," said forward Marvin Williams. "I think everybody on this team really wanted this win tonight and it showed out there."

Jazz head coach Tyrone Corbin agreed.

"I feel great for these guys," Corbin said. "They've been through a lot of struggles, but there's no quit in them and you saw it again tonight."

Utah will close out a three-game homestand Friday and is 1-3 as the host. In injury news for the Jazz, Hayward (shin) is questionable Friday and leads the team with 20.3 ppg.

The Jazz lost last season's series with the Spurs by a 2-1 count and are 74-92 all-time against them with a 54-28 record at home. San Antonio has won eight of 10 against Utah, but has lost two straight and eight of 12 trips to SLC.