The Portland Trail Blazers travel to Salt Lake City to face the Utah Jazz at Vivint Smart Home Arena on Wednesday.

The Trail Blazers (40-29) come into this matchup, winning four straight and eight of their last nine games in total. This is the perfect time to get rolling, too, with the playoffs just a week away. What it also has done is nearly secured a Top-6 seed for them in the west, and that's huge to avoid the play-in tournament. It's easy to understand why they're playing so well because this is the first time they've been at full health all year. Damian Lillard, C.J. McCollum, and Jusuf Nurkic are all balling out right now, and it has them in a great spot going forward. One more victory will actually guarantee them avoiding the play-in tourney, but it's going to be a tough road ahead with the Jazz, Suns, and Nuggets left on the schedule.

The Jazz (50-19) are trying their best to hold on to the best record in the NBA, and it's getting a little scary. While they have five wins in their last six games, they've been barely over .500 for the last month. A lot of that has to do with the injuries, considering Mike Conley and Donovan Mitchell continue to miss games. Those two guys have been brilliant this year, and they won't get very far in the playoffs without those two ball-handlers. With all that said, they sit 1.5 games up on the Phoenix Suns for the best record in the NBA, and two more wins would seal that coveted spot. Getting homecourt advantage throughout the postseason would be a huge boost for this club, too, posting an NBA-best 31-4 record at VSHA this year.

These teams have played twice this season, with Utah winning both games. That gives the Jazz four wins in their last five meetings with the Trail Blazers in this series.