UPDATE: Trail Blazers players Deni Avdija (lower back injury management) and Robert Williams III (left knee injury management) are both questionable to play in tonight’s game.
The Portland Trail Blazers are taking on the Utah Jazz on the second night of a back-to-back right before the NBA All-Star break.
Portland is coming off of a loss in Minnesota to the Timberwolves before flying to Utah for this game. Before their recent loss, the Blazers won three straight. They will be looking to get back into the win column tonight.
The Jazz are winners of two straight coming into this contest, including a blowout win last night over the Sacramento Kings.
Portland Trail Blazers (26-29) at Utah Jazz – (18-37) Thur. Feb 12 – 6:00pm Pacific
How to stream: BlazerVision in Oregon and Washington; League Pass everywhere else
Trail Blazers Injuries: Shaedon Sharpe, Kris Murray, Matisse Thybulle, Damian Lillard (out); Deni Avdija, Robert Williams III (questionable).
Jazz injuries: Walker Kessler, Jaren Jackson Jr., Keyonte George, Elijah Harkless (out); Lauri Markannen (questionable).
Clingan in the paint. The Jazz lost center Walker Kessler early in the season, and do not have a true backup center. Former Blazer Jusuf Nurkic is starting at the five, but in the minutes he is off the court there is no one to stop Clingan from imposing his will on the glass. If Portland is able to leverage that into a massive rebounding advantage, it gives them a good chance to come away with a win.
Turnover battle. The Blazers are dead last in the NBA in turnovers per game with 16.5 per game. Not far ahead are the Jazz who average 15.3 per game, good for 28th in the NBA. If either team is able to take care of the ball better than average or force the other into mistakes it could swing the outcome of the game.
The Athletic’s Zach Harper talked about the Jazz’s tanking and how they are prioritizing losing without sitting their stars at this point in the season (subscription required):
In the last two games, the Jazz started Jaren Jackson Jr., Lauri Markkanen and Jusuf Nurkić . Granted, Nurk isn’t a star player, but he’s being lumped in with All-Stars Markkanen and JJJ for a reason here.
All three players started in Orlando and in Miami this past week. All three combined to play zero fourth-quarter minutes. In both games. All three clocked in at 25 minutes in the first three quarters and then sat in the fourth quarters of both games. In Orlando, the tanking worked like a charm. The Jazz gave up a 33-23 quarter to the Magic and lost the game by three. It did not work Monday night against the Heat. Utah accidentally won that game 115-111.
