The New Orleans Pelicans travel to Salt Lake City to face the Utah Jazz at Vivint Smart Home Arena on Thursday.

The Pelicans (5-8) just continue to play poorly, entering this matchup losing six of their last seven games. While many of them were close at the beginning of this rut, the last two have been absolute blowouts. That's a really discouraging sign from such a young team and the 118-102 loss on Tuesday to the Utah Jazz was an ugly one. The final scoreline is actually closer than the game appeared, with Utah holding a double-digit lead for the final 20 minutes of play. The only silver lining was 32 points from Zion Williamson, who now has 63 combined points over his last two games on an absurd 27-of-34 from the field. Zion and Brandon Ingram have been doing all they can this season but the Pelicans won't be successful unless they get more from their backcourt. That's on Lonzo Ball and Eric Bledsoe to figure things out because they're way too good of players to be playing the way they are right now.

The Jazz (10-4) handed the Pelicans that beatdown on Tuesday, giving them six-straight victories. That's a heck of a run and it has Utah looking like one of the best teams in the NBA. Much like past seasons, it's the defense carrying them to this point. The Jazz currently sit fourth in points allowed and first in rebounding which is commonplace for this defensive juggernaut. What makes this run even more amazing is the fact that Donovan Mitchell has taken a step back statistically this season. What it has done is allow Mike Conley and Jordan Clarkson to do more, which has obviously done wonders for the team as a whole.

The Tuesday Utah victory gave them 13 wins in their last 16 meetings with the Pelicans.