Bojan Bogdanovic scored a game-high 25 points in Utah’s win against San Antonio on Monday.
Spurs (31-33) at Jazz (47-18)
• Utah is tied with Phoenix for the top record in the league (47-18), but the Jazz stand alone with the top home record in the league (28-4). The Jazz average 117.3 points per game and have outscored opponents by an average of 13.6 points per game at home this season. That is the highest average point differential at home since the 2016-17 Warriors (16.0).
• The Spurs enter Wednesday looking to snap a four-game losing streak. Three of those four games have been decided by five points or less, including two that went into overtime. Being in close games is nothing new for San Antonio — it is tied for the league lead in overtime games (seven), and they have played in 14 games decided by a single possession (three points or less), which is the third most of any team behind Portland (18) and Washington (15). The Spurs are 7-7 in one-possession games and 2-5 in overtime games.
• This is the second game of a two-game series, with Utah defeating San Antonio 110-99 on Monday behind Bojan Bogdanovic’s 25 points and Rudy Gobert’s 24 points, 15 boards, three blocks and two steals. Gobert ranks second in the league in blocks (2.8 per game) and has a league-high 32 games with at least three blocks. Gobert ranks second in rim protection, allowing only 50% shooting while defending the basket. The Spurs shot just 8-of-21 in the restricted area on Monday.
• The Spurs (38.4) and Jazz (37.8) rank sixth and ninth, respectively, in bench scoring this season. Utah’s Jordan Clarkson leads all bench players in scoring this season (17.2 PPG), while teammate Joe Ingles has been one of the most efficient. Among the 157 players that have played at least 1,000 possessions off the bench, Ingles ranks fourth in true shooting percentage (69.8%).
• The Jazz have gone 5-4 since losing leading scorer Donovan Mitchell to an ankle sprain on April 16. Without their leading scorer (26.4 ppg, 11th in NBA), the Jazz offense has averaged five fewer points per game (117.0 before, 112.0 since); Bojan Bogdanovic has stepped up his offense averaging a team-high 21.6 points per game since Mitchell’s been out, which is up from his 15.4 ppg prior to Mitchell’s injury.
