Jazz All-Stars Donovan Mitchell, Rudy Gobert ruled out vs. Grizzlies
The Utah Jazz have lost three in a row and are in danger of falling out of the top four spots in the Western Conference standings . Unsurprisingly, each of the last two losses have come without the team's two best players on the court in Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert.
Unfortunately for Utah fans, they've got another tough matchup on Friday night against the Memphis Grizzlies and will be without Mitchell and Gobert yet again.
"Spider" was listed as questionable on the team's Thursday injury report but was downgraded Friday afternoon. It will be the sixth consecutive game missed by the two-time All-Star, a stretch in which the Jazz has gone 1-4.
Gobert, meanwhile, has missed the last two contests and seven of the last 12 after suiting up in Utah's first 37 games of the 2021-2022 campaign. The two-time All-Star and three-time Defensive Player of the Year sat out five games in early January while in the NBA's health and safety protocols.
The Jazz have gone 1-6 without their menace down low this season and 29-13 when Gobert plays. Mitchell and Gobert rank first and third, respectively, on the team in scoring at 25.5 and 16.0 points per game, while Mitchell is first in steals (1.6) and second in assists per game (5.2) and Gobert is first in both rebounds (NBA-best 15.1) and blocks per game (2.3).
Utah (30-19) will face the Grizzlies (33-17) on the road at 8:00 p.m. ET on Friday.
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