Spurs hoping to stay hot against Jazz

Despite seven new faces and the offseason retirement of future Hall of Fame forward Tim Duncan, it's been business as usual for the San Antonio Spurs over the first four games of the new campaign.

The Spurs look to continue their hot start when they host the Utah Jazz on Tuesday at the AT&T Center.

San Antonio has won all four times it's taken the court, thrice on the road, and is already in the routine of resting veteran players for the rigors of the eight-month-long journey to the postseason.

The Spurs gave starting point guard Tony Parker and reserve guard Manu Ginobili the night off against New Orleans on Saturday but San Antonio cruised to an easy 98-79 win.

Part of the Spurs' early success has been the play of their reserves, especially point guard Patty Mills, who scored 18 points on 6-of-9 shooting against the Pelicans in a spot start for Parker and then added another 18-point game off the bench in San Antonio's 106-99 victory at Miami on Sunday.

DeWanye Dedmond, one of the Spurs' under-the-radar offseason acquisitions, has contributed seven points and 7.3 rebounds per game while playing an average of 18 minutes and already has eight blocked shots.

David Lee, who has taken some of the minutes that belonged to David West last year, is scoring eight points per game and pulling down 6.8 rebounds per outing in an average of just under 17 minutes.

"Dedmond has been very active and has been doing a wonderful job off the bench, as has Lee," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said Saturday. "DeWanye's game is running and giving us some energy, and David is a basketball player -- he knows how to play and fits into any kind of situation."

The Jazz (1-2) head to San Antonio on the heels of a 88-75 road loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday.

George Hill paced Utah with 18 points while reserve guard Dante Exum was the only other Jazz player to reach double figures with 10. Joe Johnson scored seven points in the opening quarter, but didn't score again.

The four starters other than Hill -- Johnson, Boris Diaw, Rudy Gobert and Rodney Hood -- combined for just 20 points.

"I didn't believe it was a good night for me -- it's a team game, not individual," Hill said after the loss. "My stats don't mean anything if we lose a game like we did (Sunday)."

Jazz forward Gordon Hayward sat out his third straight game with a broken finger on his left hand and likely will not play in Tuesday's contest.

Although San Antonio is often considered the most international team in the NBA, the Jazz have supplanted the Spurs in far-flung flavor this year, with seven players from outside the United States: center Gobert and forward Diaw (France), guard Dante Exum and forward Joe Ingles (Australia), guard Raul Neto (Brazil), forward Trey Lyles (Canada) and forward Joel Bolomboy (Ukraine).

On Monday the Jazz beat the Oct. 31, 11:59 p.m. EDT deadline to avoid restricted free agency by agreeing to a four-year contract extension with Gobert worth $102 million, according to league sources. The contract is just short of the projected maximum offer of $106 million.