Dreadful Blazers Kick Of Key Stretch For Jazz
Mar 9, 2022, 1:30 PM
Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert dunks the ball (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
(Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY – The Utah Jazz will kick off a key stretch of three winnable games tonight when they host the Portland Trail Blazers.
The Blazers have lost five straight games and should offer little resistance to the Jazz on their home floor.
Despite losing two of their last three games, the Jazz are returning home from a successful five-game road trip that saw them earn wins in Phoenix, Houston, and Oklahoma City.
Jazz Last Soft Stretch
With 18 games left to play, and the seventh most difficult schedule remaining in the NBA, the next three games against non-playoff opponents will be critical to the Jazz seeding at the end of the regular season.
The Jazz open the stretch against the dreary Trail Blazers, before traveling to face the San Antonio Spurs on Friday, then returning to host the Sacramento Kings on Saturday in a quick turnaround.
❔Do you think Joe Ingles will be at tonight's game❔
📻: @ZoneSportsNet / @kslnewsradio
📺: AT&T SportsNet / ESPN
🎧: https://t.co/yTfV2Fd1rE#TakeNote pic.twitter.com/nI0Kq7fCLy— KSL Sports (@kslsports) March 9, 2022
After this lighter three-game stretch, 10 of the Jazz’s final 15 games will come against teams currently in the top eight of their conference, have of which will be played on the road.
As it stands, the Jazz own the fourth seed in the Western Conference, 3.0 games back of the third-seeded Golden State Warriors, and 0.5 games ahead of the Dallas Mavericks.
Blazers Limping Into Summer
The Trail Blazers made the difficult decision to begin a retooling around All-Star guard Damian Lillard at the trade deadline, and have been one of the worst teams in the NBA since the All-Star break.
Portland traded Robert Covington and Normal Powell to the Los Angeles Clippers and sent CJ McCollum to the New Orleans Pelicans in exchange for more roster flexibility this summer.
On to the next.#RipCity pic.twitter.com/qfUl0H67O1
— Portland Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) March 8, 2022
Over their last five games, the Trail Blazers have gone winless, and have been outscored by an average of 31.2 points per game.
The Jazz are 2-0 this season against Portland with an average win margin of 18.5 points.
Broadcast
The Jazz and Trail Blazers will tip-off at 8 pm MT and can be heard on KSL NewsRadio and The Zone Sports Network. The game will be televised on ESPN, AT&T SportsNet, and FuboTV.
