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1. A little perspective for starters.

Alec Burks is hurt. So the 22-year-old rookie Rodney Hood got his first NBA start in place of the 24-year-old Burks.

As a result, the Jazz's starting five was the fourth youngest starting unit in franchise history, with an average age of 22 years, 351 days.

The three youngest starting lineups all came at the end of last year, when Richard Jefferson and Marvin Williams gave way to Burks and Enes Kanter (alongside Gordon Hayward, Derrick Favors and Trey Burke).

Jazz coach Quin Snyder made a point of mentioning this in his post-game press conference when he was asked about dealing with the team's seven-game losing streak and its 5-14 record.

"I think that the nature of this process is that [the team] looks at our record. I've said from the beginning that we cannot fixate on our record," he said. "Certainly, we'd like for it to be different, but it's reflective of where we are right now. There's no magic pill and all of a sudden ... boom. Our average age tonight for our starting lineup was 23 years old. We've got 23-year-olds out there trying to learn and trying to get better and trying to compete. I don't want them to get down, I want them to want to get better."

2. Raptors coach Dwane Casey is high on Hayward. He said as much before the two teams played in Toronto last month. And he reiterated that prior to tipoff on Wednesday.

"The big cog is Gordon Hayward," Casey said as he talked to reporters. "He's playing like an All-Star. He's scoring at will. So we've got to do an extra special job on him defensively."

The Raptors got Hayward to settle for jump shots.

"I thought we made Hayward work, which was our focus going in," Case said after the 123-104 victory for his team. "He only had 16 points and had 15 attempts to get them. I thought T. Ross [Terrence Ross] and James Johnson came in and gave us a great effort against him."

The Jazz's leading scorer started the game with three long 2-point tries, all misses, before finally getting on the board with a triple.

Hayward finished the night with 16 points on 5-of-15 shooting. Of those attempts, 12 were jump shots. Only three attempts (33.33 percent) came within 5 feet of the basket. On the season, 61.3 percent of Hayward's attempts have been from within 5 feet—and that number climbs above 69 percent in Jazz wins.

3. Kyle Lowry was incredible.

Forget how bad the Jazz's defense was for much of the night, the Raptors point guard has put his team on his back now that shooting guard DeMar DeRozan is out with an injury.

"Go out there and do your job. Jump on them before they jump on you, because here they seem to play at another level and a higher tempo," Lowry said of his team's mindset coming into the game.

Lowry did his job and then picked up a couple extra shifts for his teammates. In the end, he finished with 39 points, five rebounds and four assists.

"I'm just going out there and doing my job," he said. "I know I need to score a little bit more and be a little more aggressive. I can do it with DeMar [DeRozan]. But as a point guard, I like to get my teammates involved. Right now I need to be a little more assertive."

In his last three games without DeRozan, Lowry has averaged 31.7 points, 8.7 assists, 3.7 rebounds and 2 steals.

4. In the Jazz locker room during halftime of Monday night's game against the Denver Nuggets, coach Quin Snyder walked his players through a quick film session, pointing out some of the mistakes that had them in a 62-43 hole as well as a few early highlights.

"He just showed us like what we can be when we're good, when we play defense together," backup center Rudy Gobert said.

Then the Frenchman added, "We're two faces."

That appropriately sums up Utah's play of late.

In first halves this season, the Jazz own the league's worst defense, allowing 117.2 points per 100 possessions. Their first-half turnover ratio (18) is second word and the team's net rating (-17.1) is also a league worst.

But coming out of the locker room, something changes.

The Jazz rallied fiercely against the Nuggets, coming all the way back from 22 down to tie the game Monday night. All season long, in fact, third quarters have belonged to the Jazz.

Utah's third-quarter offensive rating (116.4) is the best in the NBA and its net rating (15.2) is second best behind the Warriors. A 101.2 defensive rating in third quarters is the 11th best.

"I think it shows that our guys are receptive," Snyder said this week. "For them to be able to come out and internalize some of the things we haven't done well in the first couple of quarters and respond is a good thing."

Against the Raptors on Wednesday night, the Jazz started the third on a 9-2 run and edged Toronto for the quarter 29-28.

— Aaron Falk