Lakers at Jazz
The Los Angeles Lakers and Utah Jazz will be coming off rare victories when they meet Wednesday in Salt Lake City. The Lakers ended a seven-game losing streak with an overtime victory Sunday against the visiting Boston Celtics, giving them two wins in the last six weeks, both in overtime. The Jazz beat the visiting San Antonio Spurs on Monday and will try for their first three-game winning streak in more than a year.
Trey Burke was starting for the Jazz when they played Los Angeles last month, but he has since moved to the bench, where he’s flourishing. He scored 23 points against the Spurs, his highest-scoring game since switching to a reserve role Jan. 22, and the Jazz are 7-6 since they made the lineup adjustment. Dante Exum is doing a solid job defensively on opposing guards, most recently helping limit Tony Parker of the Spurs to five points on 2-for-9 shooting..
TV: 9 p.m. ET, TWC SportsNet (Los Angeles), ROOT (Utah)
ABOUT THE LAKERS (14-41): Burke won’t be feasting off a typical second unit as the Lakers have stockpiled their bench with former starters Jeremy Lin, Carlos Boozer and Jordan Hill, while Nick Young continues to be a potential high-scoring reserve for Los Angeles as well. The “backups” for Los Angeles combined for an NBA-high 84 of the 118 points against the Celtics on Sunday with Lin leading the charge with a season-high 25 points. The Lakers will be without one of their key reserves as Ronnie Price, who had four steals off the bench against Boston, giving him at least one in 18 straight games, the third-longest active streak in the NBA, is scheduled to undergo elbow surgery Wednesday.
ABOUT THE JAZZ (21-34): Gordon Hayward enjoyed a big day against the visiting Lakers on Jan. 16, scoring 31 points on 12-of-18 from the floor. He’ll be hungry to bounce back after shooting 4-for-15 against the Spurs, though he made up for it with a 10-for-11 performance at the free throw line. Wes Johnson didn’t have much luck stopping Hayward in the last meeting but he might be a better option than what Los Angeles has starting in the frontcourt lately.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Los Angeles reserves have outscored their starters 13 times this season.
2. The Lakers have played an NBA-high seven overtime games this season after playing a league-low one last season.
3. Los Angeles had seven assists in the last meeting with Utah, the third lowest total in team history.