Jazz-Bucks Preview

The Utah Jazz have been dominating the Milwaukee Bucks since the middle of last decade.

The Bucks are hoping that the tide is about to turn.

Milwaukee snapped a seven-game skid against Utah in last season's final meeting and aims to post another triumph when it hosts the Jazz on Monday.

Utah has won 21 of the last 26 meetings between the clubs and can move above .500 for the first time since Nov. 12 if it can prevail against a red-hot Bucks' squad that has won nine of its last 11 contests.

One of Milwaukee's setbacks during the stretch was a 123-116 loss to the Toronto Raptors on Saturday night.

"We've been playing well," star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo told reporters afterward. "This loss isn't going to change who we are. I feel like we're one of the best teams in the NBA and we're going to keep playing like it."

The Jazz are also playing well of late and stand 2-1 on a four-game road swing that includes wins over the Cleveland Cavaliers and Detroit Pistons on back-to-back nights.

Star guard Donovan Mitchell scored 24 of his 26 points in the second half of Saturday's 110-105 victory in Detroit and admitted he received extra motivation from choice words a fan hurled his way.

"I just came out and became more aggressive," Mitchell told reporters of his second-half uprising. "I stopped listening to the guy in the corner. He said something, and it really just snapped for me. I don't know what it was, and it shouldn't take for somebody to say something for me to play how I play, but that's what happened."

Mitchell's 20th 20-point outing of the season came on a night in which Utah clawed its way back into the game after trailing 31-13 after one quarter.

Jazz coach Quin Snyder pointed to the increase in his club's intensity level on defense as the difference.

"Our defense allowed us to get back in the game," Snyder told reporters in his postgame press conference. "We had 22 deflections in the second half, which means we had great activity. On a back-to-back and not starting the game as precise as we need to be, being able to find that was really good."

Snyder will be hoping the defensive approach is strong against Antetokounmpo, who had 43 points and 18 rebounds in Saturday's loss to the Raptors.

It was the second 40-point effort of the season for Antetokounmpo, who made 16 of 25 field-goal attempts.

But the "Greek Freak" wasn't able to feel content as his club started to fade in the second quarter and then allowed 67 second-half points.

"We were sloppy finishing the second quarter," Antetokounmpo said. "We had a double-digit lead and gave it away. Then we came back in the third quarter and didn't play hard and didn't move the ball. Just not playing hard in general."

Bucks forward Khris Middleton posted a season-best nine assists but tallied just 14 points after averaging 23.8 over the previous four games.

Milwaukee could be without forward D.J. Wilson, who suffered a left hip pointer during the loss to the Raptors. Utah lost guard Dante Exum (sprained left ankle) and forward Thabo Sefolosha (right hamstring) against Detroit.