Given Favors’ contributions this season (12 ppg, 7.2 rpg), Utah (40-30) doesn’t want to be without the 26-year-old forward. But it could open the door to experimentation in the starting lineup with a group that the numbers say is the best in Quin Snyder’s arsenal.
Since the Jazz traded for Jae Crowder on Feb. 8, he has not started a game. But the Jazz have effectively made him a closer, playing the power forward position alongside Rudy Gobert, Ricky Rubio, Joe Ingles and Donovan Mitchell. That lineup has only played 119 minutes together, but it leads the NBA in points allowed per 100 possessions (76.