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Jazz try to salvage homestand against Orlando

Dec 5, 2014 - 2:42 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The Utah Jazz are mired in a seven-game losing streak and look to end a four-game homestand on a positive note Friday versus the Orlando Magic.

The Jazz were last in action on Wednesday and sustained a 123-104 loss to the Eastern Conference-leading Toronto Raptors. Raptors guard Kyle Lowry has taken over for the injured DeMar DeRozan and scored 39 points on 13-of-22 shooting.

"I'm just going out there and doing my job. I know I need to score a little bit more and be a little more aggressive. I can do it with DeMar (DeRozan)," said Lowry. "But as a point guard, I like to get my teammates involved. Right now I need to be a little more assertive."

Jazz coach Quin Snyder had a front row view of Lowry dicing up his team.

"Obviously, Lowry was very, very difficult to guard," said Snyder.

Derrick Favors and Enes Kanter scored 19 points apiece, Gordon Hayward had 16 points and Trey Burke posted 15 for Utah, which shot well at 48.3 percent and hit on only 8-of-28 3-pointers. The Jazz outscored Toronto, 54-46, in the paint and had a 22-15 advantage in second chance points.

It still wasn't enough to stop the current slide.

Burke is averaging 14.3 points and 6.2 assists in his last six games.

Utah guard Alec Burks missed the game after sustaining a shoulder injury in Monday's loss to Denver. Burks took a hard foul from Arron Afflalo, who was ejected for the flagrant foul type 2. Burks is averaging 13.3 points and is listed as questionable versus the Magic.

The Jazz have lost five in a row at home and are 3-7 in Salt Lake City.

Orlando will resume a six-game road trip Friday and is 1-3 on the trek. In Wednesday's 114-86 loss against the Los Angeles Clippers, Tobias Harris scored 16 points and both Victor Oladipo and Ben Gordon added 11.

The Magic shot 41.8 percent and made only 7-of-20 3-pointers.

"They (the Clippers) played extremely well," said Magic coach Jacque Vaughn. "Their ball movement was pretty good."

Vaughn didn't have leading scorer and rebounder Nikola Vucevic to counter Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan inside because of back spasms. Griffin scored a game-high 21 points and Jordan pulled down 16 rebounds.

Vucevic has missed two straight games and is averaging 18.6 points and 11.7 rebounds this season. He leads the NBA with 13 double-doubles and is questionable against the Jazz.

The Magic, losers in six of seven games, will close the sojourn Saturday in Sacramento and lost both meetings with Utah last season. The Jazz have won seven in a row and 10 of the previous 13 contests against Orlando, which is winless in its last five games in Salt Lake City.