Suns Must Handle Business Against Shorthanded Jazz Tonight

PHOENIX — The Phoenix Suns enter tonight's contest against the Utah Jazz with a prime opportunity at hand.

The Suns, having lost their last six-of-seven, are heavy favorites against the Jazz. ESPN's basketball index has Phoenix at 87% odds to win tonight, which is one of their highest win probabilities of the season.

Utah themselves have won just one of their last nine games and will be playing on the second night of a back-to-back after falling to the Denver Nuggets on Friday.

However, Devin Booker isn't overlooking this Utah team. And quite frankly, Phoenix can't afford that luxury.

"You watched the game they played against Denver last night (lost 135-129). I think they got it up to like 12 or 13 against Denver and played them close all the way through. Those guys are taking advantage of their opportunity," Booker said of Utah (h/t Duane Rankin).

While the Suns are still missing starters in Dillon Brooks and Mark Williams, Phoenix did get good news on their recent injury report when all of Ryan Dunn, Royce O'Neale and Grayson Allen were fully cleared and given the green light.

For a Suns team that's struggled with injuries, that's a big step in the right direction ahead of the end of the regular season.

As for the Jazz, they've got a pretty loaded injury report. All of Lauri Markkanen (right hip impingement), Keyonte George (right hamstring strain), Jaren Jackson Jr. (left knee injury recovery), Jusuf Nurkic (nose recovery) and Isaiah Collier (left hamstring injury management) will be out for Utah tonight at Mortgage Matchup Center.

That's both of their leading scorer (George) and rebounder (Collier) out of the lineup in the desert.

Utah's 29.4 assists per night are second in the NBA, so the Jazz do know how to swing the rock and facilitate. They also play at the third-highest pace in the league offensively.

However, their defense ranks at the bottom of the league in terms of net rating and points allowed per game. Phoenix has a prime opportunity, especially with shooters such as O'Neale and Allen back and fully healthy next to Booker and Jalen Green.

The Suns themselves rank top five in NBA team categories such as three-pointers made and steals per night, which has been a crucial recipe for success under first-year head coach Jordan Ott.

Opening tip is slated for just past 7:00 PM AZ time.