This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Having played through a lingering knee injury for a large stretch of the season already, shooting guard Rodney Hood said he was prepared to gut it out the rest of the way.

But the Jazzman's pain apparently has become too much.

Hood will join three other players — starters Derrick Favors and George Hill and backup point guard Raul Neto — on the Utah Jazz's injury report for tonight's matchup with the Portland Trail Blazer.

"His knee is hurting," Jazz coach Quin Snyder said after his team's morning shootaround. "It's a joint decision [between Hood and the training staff]. The question for a lot of our guys is effectiveness. Now other guys have to be ready to play."

This is certainly a bad time for Utah to be without its starting backcourt as the Jazz will have to try to slow down Portland's dynamic guards, Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum, with their reserves.

"That's the grind of the NBA season," backup guard Shelvin Mack said about Hood's injury. "Everyone's working hard to get back healthy. These situations late in the year, the best thing is to take care of your body. Sometimes you can fight through the injury, but sometimes the best decision is to try to get ready for the playoffs."

afalk@sltrib.com

Twitter: @aaronfalk