Utah Jazz Team Report - March 15

(Basketball News) - The reeling Utah Jazz will try to halt a five-game losing streak on Tuesday, when they continue a five-game road trip against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Gund Arena.

Cleveland posted an 84-71 victory over the Jazz at the Delta Center on January 15th. The Cavs have won three of the last four meetings overall, while Utah has lost four of seven and eight of its last 12 at Cleveland.

Utah’s recent woes continued in the opener of its trip on Sunday, falling 64-62 to the Detroit Pistons at the Palace of Auburn Hills. Andrei Kirilenko paced the Jazz with 27 points and 14 rebounds, while Matt Harpring chipped in 10 points and seven boards. Mehmet Okur tacked on 11 rebounds in the defeat.

The Jazz struggled from the field, hitting just 32.4 percent of their shots. Utah managed just 1-of-7 (.143) from three-point range and 13-of-17 (.765) from the charity stripe.

Utah outrebounded the Pistons, 48-43, but committed 18 miscues in the losing effort. The Jazz’s turnovers led to 12 Detroit points. The teams combined for 126 points, ranking sixth all-time for lowest scoring contests.

The injured Carlos Boozer, who spurned the Cavs to sign a free agent contract with Utah in the offseason, won’t be with the team as he remains on the injured list with a sprained right foot. Boozer is expected to be out for at least two more weeks.

Utah head coach Jerry Sloan remains one win shy of tying Hall of Fame coach Red Auerbach for sixth all-time in NBA regular season coaching victories. Auerbach won 938 games in 20 seasons at the helm.

The Jazz, who are just 7-24 on the road, has lost eight of nine and 15 of their last 17 road games.

Kirilenko has scored in double-digits in 12 straight games. He is averaging 17.9 points, seven rebounds and 2.5 blocks in those contests. The 6-9 Russian forward has registered two straight and seven double-doubles in the 2004-05 campaign.

Utah will visit the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday, New Jersey Nets on Friday and the Washington Wizards on Saturday in the finale of the current road swing. After the road trip, the Jazz will return home for a season-high seven-game homestand.