Utah Jazz vs. Orlando Magic preview, Digi Mart USA News (Salt Lake City, Utah): After extensive time spent away from home, the Utah Jazz are enjoying a brief return to the Delta Center this week.
The Jazz hosted the Miami Heat Tuesday night to kick off a back-to-back set against the Florida squads, with a fourth-quarter comeback attempt ultimately falling short. Darryn Peterson (25 points, five assists), Ace Bailey (23 points, seven rebounds), and Isaiah Collier (17 points, five assists) led the way, but Utah struggled to keep Miami off the free-throw line (33-of-44) and turned it over 19 times.
“There’s plenty of things to clean up, but generally I’m really proud of the team’s fight,” Jazz head coach Will Hardy said postgame Tuesday night. “They’re digging in, staying in the moment, and playing hard… We got a lift from a bunch of guys tonight.”
On Wednesday night, Utah will host the Orlando Magic to wrap up the consecutive nights of games. Orlando will also be on the second night of a back-to-back, having narrowly defeated the Sacramento Kings 107-100 Tuesday night.
Injuries have hurt Orlando to begin Sean Sweeney’s first season as head coach, with the Magic struggling to find their footing on both ends of the floor. Heading into Tuesday’s action, Orlando ranked 24th in both offensive and defensive rating, relying on a more balanced scoring attack (five players average over 14 points per game) to navigate Paolo Banchero’s absence.
The Magic won both meetings between the two teams a year ago.
One key area Orlando has struggled in on both ends of the floor is ball security. The Magic owned a 17.9 turnover percentage as of Tuesday morning, the fourth-highest in the league.
Meanwhile, Orlando has also failed to consistently turn teams over, ranking 22nd in opponent turnover percentage.
That should be music to Utah’s ears, as consistent turnover struggles have plagued the offense early in the season. The Jazz rank 25th in turnover percentage, coughing it up on 17.2 percent of their possessions.
Defensively, Utah has found more success recently in forcing turnovers, moving up to 19th in opponent turnover percentage heading into Tuesday’s action.
If the Jazz can gain an advantage in this area of the possession game, it will go a long way towards securing a home win.
Wednesday’s game will pit two offenses against one another that don’t rely on rim attempts. As of Tuesday morning, Orlando and Utah rank 29th and 30th, respectively, in frequency of shot attempts within four feet of the rim.
While the Jazz rely on a heavy dosage of mid-range attempts, the Magic instead let it fly from deep. Heading into Tuesday’s game against Sacramento, 44 percent of Orlando’s shots have come from downtown, the fourth-highest frequency in the league.
It creates an interesting matchup Wednesday night, as the Jazz have done well to limit opponent 3-point attempts. Just 34.6 percent of opponent shot attempts have come from three on the season, the second-lowest frequency in the league.
Orlando has been hovering around league average in 3-point efficiency, so if the Jazz can limit the number of attempts, it will be helpful in slowing down the Magic offense.
In their early-season struggles, Orlando has actually found success on the offensive glass. The Magic rank 11th in offensive rebound percentage (31.1 percent) as of Tuesday, which has helped an offense that has struggled to hit shots consistently.
Orlando has been an average defensive rebounding squad, which shouldn’t be much of a concern for Sweeney given that Utah hasn’t relied on offensive rebounding on the offensive end.
Even without Jusuf Nurkić, the Jazz have been an impressive defensive rebounding squad, ranking 11th in opponent offensive rebound percentage heading into their contest against Miami on Tuesday night. Utah will need to limit Orlando’s second-chance opportunities in the first meeting of the season series on Wednesday.
Wednesday’s game tips off at 7 p.m. MT.
Tune in to the pregame show with Alema Harrington and Mike Smith beginning at 6:30 p.m. MT on Jazz+!
