SALT LAKE CITY — There was no George Hill. No Rodney Hood. And no Derrick Favors, either.
Those are three guys who, when healthy, would customarily be in the Utah Jazz starting lineup, but knee and groin issues kept 'em out of the lineup — again — Tuesday night. Reserve guard Raul Neto was sidelined with an injury, too.
Turns out, though, it was absolutely no problem for the Utah Jazz.
Utah's two mainstays, Gordon Hayward and Rudy Gobert, each had big nights, and reserves Shelvin Mack, Joe Johnson, Jeff Withey and Alec Burks joined forces to give the Jazz a huge second-half lift off the bench in a 106-87 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers at Vivint Arena.