Final
Jazz-Kings Preview
Dec 7, 2015 - 5:49 PM Both the Sacramento Kings and Utah Jazz are unsure of what to do with their lineups depleted by key big men being out.The Kings hope that DeMarcus Cousins can get untracked after some recent woes when they open a three-game homestand Tuesday night against the Jazz.
Sacramento (7-15) is without rookie center Willie Cauley-Stein while Utah (9-9) is without center Rudy Gobert. Cauley-Stein has started 14 games for the Kings while Gobert ranks among the NBA leaders with averages of 10.9 rebounds and 2.6 blocks.
Cousins would be among the leaders with 25.2 points per game if he'd played enough games to qualify, but he's averaging 14.3 points on 24.5 percent shooting in the last three games - all losses. He has played four times after a four-game absence due to a lower back strain, though Sacramento insists he is healthy.
''Nothing that I'm aware of, other than (over) 82 games, it's difficult to be a great player every night,'' coach George Karl said. ''That just doesn't happen all the time."
Small forward Omri Casspi has totaled 26 points starting in place of Cauley-Stein in the last two games, though Karl indicated he may re-insert former Utah center Kosta Koufos in the lineup. Koufos, however, has one of the league's worst average plus-minus marks at minus-6.7.
Utah won for the first time in four games without Gobert with Saturday's 122-119 overtime victory over Indiana. Rookie Trey Lyles made his first start since Nov. 13, though it's uncertain if he will be in Tuesday's starting lineup.
''There are no clear answers for our team right now as far as rotations and substitutions go,'' coach Quin Snyder said. ''It's all uncharted waters.''
The coach challenged top scorers Derrick Favors and Gordon Hayward to perform at a higher level at Friday's practice. Favors scored a career-high 35 points and grabbed 13 rebounds while Hayward finished with 22 points, five boards and five assists.
''Terrific, terrific job by both of them,'' Snyder said. ''I asked them for that. We needed those two guys to step up. Our two best players."
This contest features teams who play at different tempos, with Sacramento averaging a league-high 102.2 possessions per 48 minutes and Utah last at 95.1.
Cousins and Rajon Rondo, who leads the NBA with 10.9 assists per game, each had poor efforts in Sunday's 98-95 defeat at Oklahoma City. Cousins made 5 of 20 shots for 13 points while Rondo shot 3 of 9 for seven points and had 10 assists.
The Kings have one of the league's top scoring benches at 41.7 points per game, with Darren Collison averaging 13.7 as a reserve. Two other Sacramento players average at least 10 points off the bench, with Marco Belinelli at 12.0 and Casspi at 10.8.
The Jazz's bench features Alec Burks, who averages 15.6 points as a reserve to rank second in the NBA.
Utah has taken five of the last six meetings with Sacramento, though Cousins missed three of them.
- UTAH: 106
SACRAMENTO: 114
Final
Dec 9 12:23 AM - End of 4th Quarter.
Dec 9 12:23 AM - End of 3rd Quarter.
Dec 8 11:46 PM - UTAH: 80
SACRAMENTO: 86
End of 3rd
Dec 8 11:45 PM - End of 1st Half.
Dec 8 11:05 PM - UTAH: 48
SACRAMENTO: 54
Halftime
Dec 8 11:04 PM - UTAH: 22
SACRAMENTO: 33
End of 1st
Dec 8 10:37 PM - End of 1st Quarter.
Dec 8 10:36 PM - Derrick Favors vs. DeMarcus Cousins (Raulzinho Neto gains possession)
Dec 8 10:11 PM - UTAH: 0
SACRAMENTO: 0
1st Quarter - 12:00
Dec 8 10:11 PM
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