This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The biggest threat to the Utah Jazz?
There's a case to be made that it's the uniforms they wear.
Leading-scorer Gordon Hayward broke the ring finger on his left hand early in training camp when he got it stuck in a teammate's jersey at practice. As it turns out, a jersey was the culprit in shooting guard Rodney Hood's injury, too.
"That first game against Portland, I was going up for a layup and got caught in somebody's jersey, it got snatched in there," Hood revealed after his team's shootaround Wednesday. "… Then I reinjured it against the Clippers, so they just decided to shut me down until tonight."
Hood has missed two preseason games with a sprained pinky finger on his shooting hand, but is expected to be back in the Jazz's lineup tonight as they finish off their exhibition season against the Blazers.
"It's feeling a lot better," Hood said. "Got a chance to calm down, got some rest on it. It feels fine. Hopefully get some reps tonight and hopefully it doesn't flare back up, but it's been feeling fine."
Hood has two fingers taped on his left hand but said he doesn't believe it will have much impact on his game.
"It affects it a little bit just because I got the tape on it," he said. "But, like I said, it feels fine. There's no pain, which is the biggest thing. I'll just get more and more comfortable playing tonight and five days of practice before we get started" with the regular season.
Aaron Falk