As the trade deadline reached it’s penultimate conclusion Thursday afternoon, both the Blazers and Jazz were abstinent in pulling the trade trigger, with only Portland expending the singular asset Skal Labissiere to Atlanta. So, both teams like what they have and are content with pushing towards the playoffs in April, and for a good test, the Portland Trail Blazers look to silence the usually rowdy crowd of 18,300 Jazz patrons inside Vivint Smart Home Arena to see if they can hang with playoff-ready teams since the Jazz sit at the fifth seed in the West.
These two teams faced off less than two weeks ago and that resulted in a Saturday win by the Portland Trail Blazers, in which Damian Lillard felt like keeping up his already fable-like six-game scoring streak, dropping 51 in the process. In his last 8 games, he’s been must-see television and out of nowhere is making MVP noise averaging 42.5 points per game. While the Jazz have an appealing-looking record, Utah has lost five games in a row including two to Denver and that 124-107 loss to the Blazers in Portland last Saturday.
Since then, it’s been a tale of polar opposites for both squads. This losing streak that the Jazz are on killed any momentum of them possibly entering and staying in the top-3 in the West, while the ninth-seeded Blazers are in sniffing distance of the eighth seed in the standings. And they’re scoring in multitudes recently, averaging a whopping 127.4 points in their past seven contests.
What’s to be figured out is if a struggling Jazz team that’s experiencing woes on the defensive end can at least slow down “Dame D.O.L.L.A” and this offensive onslaught that C.J. McCollum (21.3 ppg., 4 rpg., 3.8 apg.) has assisted in bringing to opposing teams and their defensive coverages that have been confusing enough to conceive recently.
Also, the confidence of Gary Trent Jr. has really been a feel-good story to analyze if you’ve tuned into any Blazers games prior to this one tonight. He was mesmerizing to watch in the fourth quarter on Thursday against Houston, chipping in 12 points in the quarter and finishing with a hot 18 points on 6-of-7 shooting. He’s definitely added another dimension to this Blazers attack and will get another challenge to improve and a chance to showcase his positive development against a tough defensive core in the Utah Jazz.
Utah enters this one well-rested as their last game was on Wednesday, while the Blazers are returning to the court on the second night of a back-to-back. They’ve really found a groove winning five of their last six, and though the Jazz are no pushover led by Donovan Mitchell’s 24.5 ppg., 4.3 rpg., and 4.2 apg., Portland could benefit by getting out of the gates and hitting them in the mouth early with Lillard’s and McCollum’s superb shooting ability.
That’s all to be determined in Friday night’s second ESPN game at 10:30 p.m. ET.
Recent Comments