Memphis @ Utah preview

Last Meeting ( Mar 9, 2018 ) Utah 95, Memphis 78

The Utah Jazz are fighting to stay in the top eight of the Western Conference and can't afford to drop another game to a team well out of the playoff race. The Jazz will try to avoid dropping back-to-back games for the first time since mid-January when they host the lowly Memphis Grizzlies on Friday.

Utah, which had a nine-game winning streak come to an end with a home loss to the Eastern Conference-worst Atlanta Hawks on Mar. 20, was stunned at the buzzer by the Boston Celtics in a 97-94 loss on Wednesday. "We just didn't execute the way we needed to in some situations," Jazz coach Quin Snyder told reporters. "All that aside, we didn't rebound defensively down the stretch. Whether it was the free-throw line late, I felt like if we could've secured a couple of defensive boards, that makes up for when you're struggling on the offensive end." Utah goes into play on Thursday in eighth place in the West, one game ahead of the ninth-place Los Angeles Clippers. The Grizzlies stunned another playoff contender with a 108-103 win over Portland on Wednesday as the roster tries to earn a spot not only in the franchise but in the NBA.

TV: 9 p.m. ET, FS Southeast (Memphis), AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain (Utah)

ABOUT THE GRIZZLIES (21-54): Memphis signed 29-year-old shooting guard MarShon Brooks to a 10-day contract and he scored 21 points on 7-of-12 shooting in his season debut on Wednesday. Brooks, who was playing in an NBA game for the first time since April 16, 2014, is a former first-round draft pick and went 5-of-5 from 3-point range against the Trail Blazers. "If you look back, he's a bucket getter," interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff told reporters of Brooks. "You look at what he's done since he's been in the Chinese league. That's what he does. He scores the ball. You don't have to run plays for him. The ball finds him and one-on-one situations, you see he's hard to guard. His ability to make shots from deep puts pressure on defenses."

ABOUT THE JAZZ (42-33): Rookie guard Donovan Mitchell scored a team-high 22 points on Wednesday but was 7-of-20 from the floor and committed four turnovers. "They just played zone," Mitchell told reporters. "It was a little different look. That was pretty much it. I turned the ball over at the end of the game. We have to take care of the ball." Backcourt mate Ricky Rubio was just 4-of-14 from the floor in the setback but finished with 10 assists after failing to record an assist in a win at Golden State on Sunday.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Grizzlies SG Wayne Selden scored in double figures in six of the last seven games, raising his season average to 9.1.

2. Jazz PG Dante Exum is 10-of-14 from the floor over the last three games.

3. Utah held Memphis to an average of 83 points in winning the last two meetings.

PREDICTION: Jazz 106, Grizzlies 89