NBA Power Rankings: Blake Griffin trade shakes things up

The Jazz dropped their first game of the week, shooting themselves into a loss against the Atlanta Hawks. Donovan Mitchell and Ricky Rubio went a combined 6-of-21 in the game, and the team shot 43 percent from the floor against a Hawks team that gained more energy after each defensive stop. “There were times it looked like we didn’t want to play. Including me,” said Donavan Mitchell. They rallied for a win against the slumping Detroit Pistons, 98-95, on the road, coming back from nine points down to force the game to overtime, where they just wanted the game more than the Pistons did. Joe Ingles was big for the Jazz, making a layup to even up the score in the final seconds and knocking down six points in overtime to ice the game for Utah.

They shocked the Raptors in Canada on Friday, with Ricky Rubio making a 3-pointer with four seconds remaining to give the Jazz the game-winning points. The back-to-back wins were just what the doctors ordered, with the Jazz getting a few days rest before their next game, which comes at home in Utah against the Warriors. The Jazz are five games back of the Nuggets for the final playoff spot with 33 games remaining in the season.