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Shelvin Mack has gotten the longest look and the most opportunity.

Dante Exum's been in and out of the lineup. Raul Neto's been the afterthought for most of the season. But now it seems like an open competition.

Now that George Hill is healthly, the backup point guard rotation for the Jazz has resembled a rotating carousel for much of the past few weeks, with Neto, Mack and Exum as the main characters.

The results have been mixed. Mack's been the constant at the spot for most of the season. But he had a bad stint in the first half of a blowout win over the Detroit Pistons last week, then didn't get off the bench Saturday against the Orlando Magic or Monday against the Phoenix Suns.

Exum played great against the Pistons but has played sparingly since. Neto received the backup minutes in the second half Monday and has received praise from coach Quin Snyder over the past week after his one-game stint with the D-League Stars.

"Raul looked great in that game," Snyder said. "He's stayed ready. There have been times that he hasn't played, and it hasn't been easy for him. He was a starter for a lot of last year, and he's gone from that to not playing. We were really pleased with how he's played."

Snyder said he's given out his backup point guard minutes by feel, going with who's played well at a given time. But as the Jazz prepare to face the Dallas Mavericks on the road Friday, it seems as if Snyder hasn't settled on a backup — or nobody has stepped up and put a stranglehold on those minutes.

And they are important minutes. Hill can't play the entire game, and the backup point guard is counted on to keep the offense humming for 15 to 20 minutes a night to allow sufficient rest for Hill.

There have been occasions over the past few weeks where Snyder's gone with an extra wing rather than a backup point guard. But Snyder is giving the three point guards not named Hill an equal opportunity to lay claim to consistent minutes.

Trickle down

The Los Angeles Clippers announced Tuesday that star point guard Chris Paul will miss 6 to 8 weeks due to surgery for a torn ligament in his thumb.

With the Jazz in the fifth spot in the Western Conference, two games behind the Clippers for the fourth spot, that could have a significant impact on the Jazz and their fight for homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

The Clippers are projected to get star power forward Blake Griffin back soon from injury. But Paul is the engine that drives Los Angeles. His absence, plus a stretch in the near future where the Clippers will play 11 of 13 games on the road, could damage their playoff seeding.

Joe the stopper

One of the most surprising revelations of the season is the emergence of Joe Ingles as one of Utah's best perimeter defenders.

He held Phoenix star Devin Booker to 25 points Monday night. While that doesn't seem impressive, consider that Booker played 46 minutes. He needed 22 shots for those 25 points, and he shot 1 of 5 from 3-point range. And Booker scored 39 points in each of his previous two games.

When Los Angeles Lakers guard Lou Williams was torching the Jazz earlier this season, it was Ingles who shut him down. Snyder has used Ingles everywhere outside of center this season, and Ingles has emerged as one of Utah's most valuable players.

"The biggest thing defensively with Joe has been his commitment to activity," Snyder said. "He knows how to use his size and his length as a deterrent. And defense has become important to him. He's a shooter who has been trying to embrace a defensive identity. He knows the way to get on the court and stay on the court is to defend, and then he can shoot."

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