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Jay Magic

GAMETHREAD: Orlando Magic @ Utah Jazz

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Vooch will miss his 3rd consecutive game tonight. He has a sprained lower back.

 

Projected Starters

 

Oladipo

Fournier

Harris

Frye

O'Quinn

 

Burke

Hood

Hayward

Favors

Kanter

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The Utah Jazz are still searching for answers after a winless two-week stretch.

 

The Orlando Magic haven't been much better.

 

Utah tries to avoid an eighth consecutive loss Friday night when it hosts the Magic, losers of seven straight in the series.

The Jazz (5-14) have been outscored by an average of 11.3 points during their skid after falling 123-104 to Toronto on Wednesday. Utah gave up its highest scoring total of the season and allowed the Raptors to shoot 57.0 percent, also a season worst.

 

Derrick Favors and Enes Kanter scored 19 points apiece while Gordon Hayward added 16, but the Jazz gave up 69 points in the first half. "You can take this game as a microcosm (of our season)," coach Quin Snyder told the team's official website. "We have possessions where we do a good job and then other possessions where there are breakdowns. I think our guys are trying to play the right way and trying to do the right thing. ... I think we need to compete harder on the defensive end."

 

The Jazz are 28th in the league with a defensive rating of 110.0, the number of points surrendered per 100 possessions. They haven't won since beating short-handed Oklahoma City 98-81 on Nov. 18. "We have to figure it out, we have another game on Friday, and hopefully we can get a win," Hayward said.

 

Utah has taken seven straight from the Magic, though the last four meetings have been decided by an average of just 3.8 points. The Jazz won 86-82 in Orlando last Dec. 18 before pulling out an 89-88 home win March 22 thanks to Trey Burke's 3-pointer with 2 seconds left.

 

The Magic (7-14) have dropped six of seven, with their lone win coming 93-90 at Phoenix on Nov. 30. They suffered a heartbreaking 98-97 loss at Golden State on Tuesday before getting blown out 114-86 by the Clippers the next night.

 

"It's tough, but this is the NBA," guard Victor Oladipo told the team's official website. "Especially if you want to be good in this league we have to learn how to play back-to-back games against two really good teams. It's just a learning process for us."

 

Tobias Harris was the only player to score more than 11 points for Orlando, finishing with 16 on 7-of-11 shooting. The Magic, who were already without center Nikola Vucevic, lost fellow big man Kyle O'Quinn to a controversial Flagrant 2 foul in the second quarter.

 

"We've got to dig deep and guys stepped up, but we couldn't get it done against a good team," said O'Quinn, who posted season highs of 21 points and 11 rebounds the night before. Vucevic is uncertain to play after missing the last two games due to back spasms. He's averaging team highs with 18.6 points and 11.7 rebounds, among the league's best marks. The Magic have dropped six straight and 27 of 32 when Vucevic doesn't play since the start of 2012-13.

 

Orlando has been held to an average of 86.6 points in a 1-4 road stretch. The Jazz have allowed an average of 108.2 during a five-game skid at home, their longest since March 24-April 7, 2011.

 

Hayward is averaging 23.8 points over a four-game stretch, up from his season mark of 19.4. He's scored 8.9 in seven meetings against Orlando for his third-lowest mark against any team.

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The biggest question surrounding this game has to be: can I manage to stay awake until the 2am (my time) tip-off to see Payton vs Exum?

I had to take a nap in the afternoon. I hope my internet holds up

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