Utah @ Sacramento preview

Last Meeting ( Mar 29, 2017 ) Utah 112, Sacramento 82

Rookie Donovan Mitchell continues to be one of the only bright spots for the Utah Jazz, who will lean on their young guard again when they visit the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday. Mitchell followed up a 35-point performance at Charlotte on Friday with 23 points against Indiana on Monday.

Both efforts came in losses, but Mitchell is confident a turnaround is imminent for a squad that is 4-15 over its last 19 games. "We definitely think we can make a run, and that's something that we're trying to focus on," Mitchell told the Salt Lake Tribune. "I think we have to try and get back to the .500 mark, but we definitely want to make a push and see where it goes." Utah will need to vastly improve on the road, where it is 4-18, and the visit to Sacramento could offer up a chance to buck that trend. The Kings have lost five in a row and eight of nine to sink to last place in the Western Conference.

TV: 10 p.m. ET, AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain (Utah), NBCS California (Sacramento)

ABOUT THE JAZZ (17-26): Rodney Hood had 15 points in 21 minutes in the 109-94 loss to Indiana but is averaging 11.3 - more than five below his season average - on 35.6 percent shooting this month and has heard it from the hometown fans at times. "If people boo, or they say (stuff) about me, you know, I'll just keep going," Hood told reporters. "That's all I can do. I'm gonna keep my head up. Keep shooting the ball, you know what I mean? It is what it is. I gotta keep fighting and not lose confidence because everybody else does." Hood averaged 23 points while making 16-of-25 shots in two games against the Kings last season.

ABOUT THE KINGS (13-30): Sacramento went without leading scorer Zach Randolph in Monday's 95-88 loss at Oklahoma City as coach Dave Joerger has made a commitment to give younger players more time on the floor. Willie Cauley-Stein, 24, played a season-high 40 minutes and finished with 15 points while Buddy Hield, also 24, was the team's high scorer with 16. "It's not an easy conversation," Joerger said of the team's plan to sit at least two of five veterans each contest. "They're very professional, they're competitive. All of them are rotation players on a playoff team. So to ask those guys to step aside at different times is not enjoyable for me. They handled it well, they've been pros."

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Hield was 0-for-7 from 3-point range on the Kings' two-game road trip but is hitting 48.5 percent from long range at home.

2. Jazz PG Ricky Rubio is 4-for-18 from the floor in the last two games and was held without an assist in Monday's loss for the first time in his seven-year career.

3. Utah has won three in a row at Sacramento.

PREDICTION: Jazz 99, Kings 95