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LOS ANGELES -- The Jazz are climbing in the standings.
Utah has won two straight games, three of its last four and has positioned itself into a tie for ninth place in the Western Conference playoff race — just a 1 ½ games behind No. 8-seed Houston. The Jazz have also climbed back to .500 and into third place in the Northwest Division standings.
However, things are about to get tougher for the Jazz starting this week as they face two of the West’s Top 3 seeds. The tough stretch begins tonight as the Jazz face the Lakers in Los Angeles.
The Jazz are coming off consecutive overtime wins. They beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 111-105 on Thursday and followed that nail-biter with another on Saturday as they edged the Golden State Warriors 99-92.
Derrick Favors, who started in place of leading scorer and rebounder Al Jefferson, played the best game of his young career against Golden State. Favors scored 23 points and grabbed 17 rebounds against the Warriors on Saturday — both career-best marks. Favors also went 9 for 9 from the free-throw line.
Teammate Gordon Hayward said that Favors is capable of having big games with big numbers on a regular basis.
"He had a great game," Hayward said to the Deseret News. "I don't want to blow it up because I think it could be an every day thing for him. He's that good. We need another one of those tomorrow."
The Jazz will need big-time production from Favors and the rest of his teammates as they face a streaking Lakers team.
The Lakers have won five straight games and are leading the Pacific Division by 2 ½ games over the second- place Clippers. Kobe Bryant leads NBA in scoring at 29.0 points per game.
The Lakers have thrived despite trading multiple players, including longtime Lakers Derek Fisher and Luke Walton, at the NBA’s trade deadline. Fisher was traded to the Rockets for forward Jordan Hill, while Walton was dealt to the Cavaliers as part of the Ramon Sessions deal.
The Lakers desperately needed production at the point guard position and Sessions, who backed up rookie Kyrie Irving Cleveland, brings quickness, toughness, and the ability to penetrate the lane and find the open man — keys to successfully running Lakers coach Mike Brown’s offense.
Sessions scored seven points, had five assists and four rebounds in just under 20 minutes in his Lakers debut.
“When you’ve got talent like we have in this locker room, it’s a lot easier,” Sessions said to the Associated Press. “I’m looking forward to getting to know the guys a little bit more and learning the plays.”
The Jazz have lost 10 of 11 at Staples Center and are 16- 62 all-time on the road against the Lakers.
The Jazz are 5-16 on the road this season.
Tonight's game takes place at 7:30 p.m. at Staples Center in Los Angeles and will be televised by Root Sports.
Jarrod is a freelance writer who writes Jazz previews for KSL.com. You can follow Jarrod Hiatt on Twitter at @jarrodhiatt.
