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San Antonio • Players and coaches always preach the importance of taking things one game at a time.
But with about three minutes left in the third quarter Wednesday night, Quin Snyder and the Jazz wisely started looking ahead.
Trailing the Spurs by 27 points at the time, Snyder pulled leading scorer Gordon Hayward and kept him out the rest of the game, hoping to keep him fresh for Thursday night's game against the Houston Rockets.
"The margin was about the same. It just didn't make sense to me tonight to play guys where we were just overwhelmed with their physicality and how good they are," Snyder said. "That was part of it. In these situations, you always fear somebody will have something happen. We've certainly had our share of that this year."
Hayward scored 18 points in 29 minutes of action in Wednesday's blowout. No Jazz player logged more than 30 minutes. So perhaps the Jazz might have better luck Thursday when they rematch with a Rockets team that escaped with a win Monday night in Salt Lake City.
The Jazz led by 15 in the second half of that one before James Harden and company rallied.
"Obviously we felt like we could have won that game," point guard Trey Burke said Wednesday night after suffering a 123-98 loss in San Antonio. "That's a really good team that went to the Western Conference Finals last year. We've got to come out tomorrow and we can't allow this game to affect us. We have to erase this game and be ready to play."
Out again
Derrick Favors missed a seventh straight game because of a lingering back issue.
He'll miss at least one more, too.
Favors, whom the Jazz have said has been dealing with back spasms for roughly two weeks now, did not travel with the team on this two-game visit to south Texas.
"Obviously we miss him," said Snyder, who has said there is "nothing structurally" wrong with Favors' back. "It impacts our team on a lot of levels. We've just got to keep competing and trying to improve until we get those guys back."
Saying goodbye
Elijah Millsap was an early casualty of the Jan. 10 deadline to waive players before contracts guarantee. The Jazz waived Millsap, whose deal was not fully guaranteed, on Tuesday, giving the team room to add a player either through a signing from the D-League or a trade.
"I think Eli really helped us," Snyder said. "His commitment to defending, his toughness. I think he improved his play while he was here. Obviously those are difficult decisions."
Power shift
Coming into Wednesday night, the 15-18 Jazz sat in eighth place in the Western Conference. But if the playoffs started now, the 19-16 Orlando Magic wouldn't make the top eight in the East.
So before tipoff against San Antonio Wednesday night, Snyder was asked if the NBA is finally seeing the balance of power shift from West to East.
"All I know is that we have to play Oklahoma City, San Antonio and Golden State four times each," Snyder said. "That's hard."
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