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Portland, Ore. • The sore knee/IT Band Syndrome that's dogged Derrick Favors since the beginning of training camp has spilled into the regular season.

The Jazz will be without their starting power forward on Tuesday night against the Portland Trail Blazers in the season opener for both teams. With Gordon Hayward and Alec Burks both unavailable — Hayward broke his finger and Burks is still recovering from offseason knee surgery — the Jazz will begin the season without arguably their two best players and three really important pieces in Quin Snyder's rotation.

"He's got a unique presence," Snyder said. "There aren't a lot of players like him in terms of his ability to rebound and score. He's the best rim finisher in the league by some metrics. We're going to miss him on a lot of levels, particularly his physicality. He's a good player and we have to get him back. But we have to get him back when he's ready to come back."

Without Favors, Snyder has gone with veteran Boris Diaw in the starting lineup for the last three weeks, and that trend will continue tonight. Snyder does this for a few reasons. Diaw's chemistry with Rudy Gobert has been one of the bright spots of the preseason. Diaw's passing and ability to create in the low post has made Gobert a better player, and fostered better ball-movement in general within the offense.

Secondly, Snyder likes having Trey Lyles in the second unit, for his scoring and playmaking. With Joe Johnson being in the lineup to replace Hayward, the Jazz need scoring off of their bench, and Lyles offers that.

Favors is progressing. Following shootaround, he went through an intense fullcourt workout with assistant coach Tony Lang. The two started with pick-and-roll action in the halfcourt, and then advanced to sprints up and down the floor, ending with layups and short jumpers.

That's more than Favors has been able to do previously, which suggests he's getting better and maybe getting closer to a return. But, at least for Tuesday, the Jazz will be without him, as well as Hayward. That's a combined 36 points per game the team will have to replace. And they will have to do it against one of the most explosive offensive teams in the league.

"We've got to have a next man up mentality for tonight," Jazz point guard Shelvin Mack said. "Derrick is very important to us and to what we do, so we're definitely going to miss him. We've got to go out there and play hard and play well. Portland is a very good team."

— Tony Jones