Music: {allcanada} RAPTORS SEEK FIRST WIN OVER JAZZ IN SIX SEASON

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

{allcanada} RAPTORS SEEK FIRST WIN OVER JAZZ IN SIX SEASON

The Toronto Raptors opened a tough four-game road trip out west with Monday's tough 111-108 loss at Sacramento, and it doesn't get easier on Wednesday with a game against the Utah Jazz.

The last time the Raptors defeated the Jazz was during the 2004-05 season.

Andrea Bargnani led the Raptors with 28 points on Monday and DeMar DeRozan matched a career-best with 24 for Toronto, which fell to 1-2 on the season and will also visit the Lakers and Blazers on the trip. Linas Kleiza had 18 points and Reggie Evans finished with just six and a game-high 19 boards.

"I think they figured us out a little bit and tried to change things up (in the second half)," DeRozan said on the team's site. "They threw a zone at us a few times and they tried to limit us going to the basket. That was the difference in the second half."

The Jazz have won 10 in a row and 14 of the past 17 meetings with Toronto, which has lost five straight trips to Salt Lake City.

Utah dropped its first two games of the season to Denver and Phoenix, then reached the win column for the first time with Sunday's 120-99 blowout of the Oklahoma City Thunder on the road. Paul Millsap was busy and finished with 30 points. 16 rebounds and six assists, while Al Jefferson got into the act with 23 points and 10 boards for Utah, which shot 53 percent from the floor and got 16 points and 15 assists from All-Star point guard Deron Williams.

"It's always amazed me how fast people throw you under the bus," Jazz head coach Jerry Sloan said of Utah's slow start to the season. "Everyone's expectations seemed to be shot...But that's OK."

Sloan won his 1,191st game and is four victories away from matching Pat Riley for third place on the all-time list. He got 21 points off the bench from C.J. Miles and 19 out of veteran starter Andrei Kirilenko.