Considering the way the Utah Jazz is playing these days and the Blazers dealing with yet another distraction - something about photos of Greg Oden - you would think the Jazz is coming to Portland with a decided edge physically and mentally for tonight's game.
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Utah has won eight of its last 10 games including wins against Phoenix, San Antonio - sweeping the season series for the first time since the 1992-94 season - Cleveland, Miami, Dallas and Memphis - did I actually include Memphis in this group?
Anyway, this is a big game for both teams. The combination of Portland's home loss to New Orleans Monday and Utah's win against Phoenix pushed the Jazz into the fourth spot - by four percentage points - in the conference. The change is significant. If the playoffs started today, the Jazz would have home-court advantage in the first round and the Blazers would start on the road.
The Jazz beat the Blazers 108-92 in Utah Nov. 28 and a Jazz win tonight would assure Utah of no less than a split in the season series if the two teams finish the regular season with identical records.
Knowing they will face an injury-plagued and now distracted Blazers, the Utah players say they will not take this game lightly. Even with Brandon Roy missing his sixth game in the past seven games, the Jazz are wary of the Blazers.
Utah has lost six consecutive games at the Rose Garden and possess the second-worst road record among the top-eight teams in the Western Conference. And Utah's record against Northwest Division rivals isn't very good as well.
So, with the red-hot Jazz coming to Portland to play against a Portland team enduring the Oden firestorm, Utah has the Blazers right where it wants them. At least, it seems that way.
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