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

The Trail Blazers (11-11) got off to an unbelievable start this season, but the recent form is much more believable. They enter this matchup losing seven of their last eight games, undoing all the good work created through the opening month. Losing Damian Lillard to a calf issue is the direct correlation with the collapse, but there's some thought that he'll be ready to return this weekend. It's tough for any team to compete when their best player is missing, and it becomes more problematic when it's a superstar who averages 30 points and eight assists per game. They're building a solid core around him, but we won't know if this team is legitimate until he's playing every night.

The Jazz (14-11) were expected to be one of the worst teams in the NBA, but they've been a pleasant surprise. They started the year with a 10-3 record but went on to lose eight of their next 10 games. That had people expecting a downfall, but Utah has won their last two since then. The offense has been fantastic in that two-game winning streak, averaging just shy of 135 points per game. That's been a trend all year, and it looks like this club has a core to build around. Lauri Markkanen has been playing at an All-Star level this season, and it's a wonder why other teams didn't give him this opportunity in the past. Utah is reaping the rewards of that mistake by those other organizations, but this team looks to be in solid shape despite trading Donovan Mitchell, Rudy Gobert and Bojan Bogdanovic.

These teams played on November 19, with Utah prevailing, 118-113. That gives the Jazz five straight wins in this series.