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Gordon Hayward won't get much chance to rest over the next week as he races around New Orleans for dozens of interviews and photo shoots and community appearances before finally suiting up for his first NBA all-star game.
But the Utah Jazz forward might be able to relax a little bit, to breathe a little easier, if his team can find a way to get back on track before the break.
"It [would] definitely make you feel good," he said. "It's, what, a weeklong break? When you win you have some momentum going into it. It's definitely easier to relax, easier to not think about it and get away."
The Jazz have looked like a team eager to get away in recent days as the optimism surrounding a four-game win streak quickly turned into a three-game losing skid. Hayward and company's Jekyll-and-Hyde stretch started about a week ago, when the Jazz rolled through Atlanta and crushed New Orleans, putting together their two most potent offensive performances of the year in back-to-back games.
Then things fell apart midway through last week's game at Dallas. The Jazz have been outscored 270-227 over their last 10 quarters and an overtime period and outplayed far worse than that en route to three straight losses — a head-scratching and disheartening run the Jazz hope ended with Monday night's ugly loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.
"We've played some of our best basketball in the last week," Snyder said after that game. "Tonight we showed what a bad team looks like when you're not ready to play."
The effort — what little of it there was — the Jazz mustered on the court Monday left a sour taste.
"We've just got to want it," Jazz center Rudy Gobert said after the loss. "We've got to want it more than the other team. I feel like we didn't want it. We didn't want it more than they wanted it."
It's hard to pinpoint one cause for Utah's recent struggles. Shooting guard Rodney Hood has missed his team's last six games with an injury and won't return until after the break. Point guard George Hill was sidelined by toe soreness against Dallas. Boston's Isaiah Thomas blitzed Utah's defense while the Celtics' bigs got hot from outside.
Now the Jazz, who are 5-5 in their last 10 games and haven't beaten a Western Conference playoff team since mid-December, are looking to right the ship against a Portland team looking to turn around things itself.
Damian Lillard's squad looked like one of the NBA's up-and-comers a season ago as Portland beat the Clippers in the opening round before falling to the Golden State Warriors. Now the Blazers sit nine games below .500 and thankful the eight-seed remains within striking distance.
"The season's not over," Snyder said. "It's one game left until the all-star break. Then there's a lot more after that. We could say that we need to beat Portland to have a good psyche or else say maybe we'll dig down and work harder."
As he prepares for the grind of the stretch run, Hayward's preference is obvious.
"There's a lot of basketball left after the break and a lot of important games for us," Hayward said. "We want to get into the break on the right foot."
Twitter: @aaronfalk —
Blazers at Jazz
At Vivint Smart Home Arena
Tipoff • 7 p.m. Wednesday
TV • Root
Radio • 1280 AM, 97.5 FM
About the Jazz • Gordon Hayward needs 11 points to pass Deron Williams (7,576) for eighth place on the franchise's all-time scoring list. … Looking to snap a three-game losing streak before the all-star break. … Shooting guard Rodney Hood will miss his seventh game with a knee sprain.
About the Blazers • Former Weber State star Damian Lillard is averaging 26 points, 5.8 assists and 4 rebounds a game. … Beat the Jazz 113-104 on opening night in Portland. … Two games out of eighth place in the West.