The Portland Trail Blazers play host to the Memphis Grizzlies at Moda Center on Wednesday.

The Grizzlies (7-6) are in the midst of a five-game winning streak, turning their disappointing start into a promising first month. What's really encouraging is the fact that Ja Morant returned from his ankle injury over the weekend. This kid has superstar potential and if you take out the game he got injured, Morant is averaging 26.5 points and 8.0 assists per game. That's all you can ask for from your stud point guard and it's scary to think he's only 21-years-old. What makes this run even more amazing is the fact that Jonas Valanciunas remains out due to COVID protocols while Jaren Jackson Jr has yet to make his season debut after knee surgery. Both of those guys are expected to return sometime within the next month and that'll make this hot team even more dangerous moving forward.

The Trail Blazers (8-6) have had to deal with absences of their own, losing Jusuf Nurkic to a broken wrist last week and C.J. McCollum suffering a foot fracture over the weekend. Those are two of the three best players on this team and it's hard to see them thriving with both of them sidelined. That certainly appeared to be the case in the first game without them, getting blown out by the San Antonio Spurs on Monday. What's really concerning is that neither of those guys is expected back for at least a month and that means players like Rodney Hood, Enes Kanter and Robert Covington need to step up in their absence. It feels like this team can't get any good news and a matchup with a streaking team is the last thing they wanted.

These teams split their two-game season series last year which is commonplace in this series. In fact, these clubs have traded off wins and losses in their last 13 meetings dating back to 2016.