After playing 15 games in 28 days, including four sets back-to-back, the Jazz gets three days off before one of its most difficult tests of the season.
The Jazz, trying to keep up with Denver and Portland in the Northwest Division race, visits Los Angeles on Friday night to play Kobe Bryant and the Lakers. The mini-break comes at a good time for the Jazz, which has lost 98 player-games to injuries and illness this season. That's more than double last year's total of 45.
The good news?
Point guard Deron Williams, who suffered a badly sprained ankle in the next-to-last preseason game in October, said he was pain-free for the first time in Monday night's 112-95 victory over Philadelphia,
And center Mehmet Okur returned from a three-game absence because of back spasms so -- just maybe -- the Jazz is on the road to recovery.
JAZZ 112, 76ERS 95: Deron Williams scored 27 points -- his most in a non-overtime game this season -- to lead the Jazz. Mehmet Okur finished with 19 points and the Jazz, after missing 10 of its first 12 shots, finished shooting 51.2 percent from the field. On the first anniversary of the trade that brought him to Utah from Philadelphia, Kyle Korver added 12 points and five assists.
