Trail Blazers’ victory in Utah a sign of good things to come? (Saturday Blazer)

The Trail Blazers have made a habit in recent years of playing their best basketball after the All-Star break. Was Friday’s beatdown of the Utah Jazz the start of another fantastic finish?

It took three tries for the Portland Trail Blazers to beat the Utah Jazz this season.

Early in the 2017-2018 campaign (Nov. 1, to be precise), the Jazz beat the visiting Blazers 112-103 in overtime. Then on Feb. 11, the Jazz pummeled the Blazers 115-96 at the Moda Center in what was Utah’s ninth-straight victory. That Jazz winning streak would reach 11 games before they squared off against the Trail Blazers again on Friday.

Goodbye Jazz winning streak. Hello new-look Blazers?

Trail Blazers vs. Jazz

The Portland Trail Blazers looked like a different team from the moment they tipped off against the Jazz in Utah Friday. Gone was the stale, isolationist, one-on-one attack that the Trail Blazers’ oft-stagnant offense has been prone to run this season. In its place was a motion offense, crisp, efficient and frequent passes, and balanced scoring up and down the lineup.

Also gone was a Trail Blazers’ defense that, although among the league’s best statistically, was prone to blowing big leads and had dropped a bit from the ranks of the league’s top defensive units. In its place was an aggressive, board-banging, theft-happy Portland D that amassed five steals in the game’s first nine minutes. Maurice Harkless had four of those steals on his own, finishing the game with six.

The result: The Jazz only managed to score 81 points, the second-fewest points the Trail Blazers have allowed this season. (Portland gave up just 76 points to Phoenix on opening night.)

Just 23 Games to Go

The Trail Blazers are 33-26 and in seventh place in the Western Conference. But just one-and-a-half games separate Portland from third-seeded San Antonio.

At the same time, just three games separate them from 10th-seeded Utah.

In other words, there’s not much room for error in the crowded Western Conference.

It’s not an easy road ahead for Portland, either. As The Oregonian/OregonLive’s Joe Freeman reports:

"The final two months (of the season) will … feature 17 games against teams currently in the playoff race, including 16 with winning records. During the make-or-break final 10 games of the season, when seeding — or possibly a playoff spot — will be on the line, the Blazers play seven games on the road …"

But, as Freeman also reports, the Trail Blazers have been at their best in recent seasons during the final weeks of the season.

"The last two years, the Blazers resurrected lost seasons with inspiring play after the All-Star break, compiling a 35-19 record — and winning 65 percent of their games — when it mattered most. In 2016, the Blazers closed 17-11, streaking all the way to a fifth seed in the West before upsetting the L.A. Clippers in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs. Then, last season, the Blazers went 18-8 after the All-Star break, sneaking into the playoffs as the eighth seed."

To recap: We have a Blazers team that appears to be firing on all cylinders as we enter the season’s home stretch, evidenced by their impressive victories over both the Utah Jazz and the Golden State Warriors. And we have a team that, at least according to recent history, plays its best basketball after the All-Star Break.

Next: Who would win a one-on-one between Dame and B-Roy?

Maybe, just maybe, despite a season that has often been filled with frustration and inconsistency, the Trail Blazers are actually in perfect position to make their strongest push yet — one that vaults them out of the suffocating depths of mediocrity and into the fresh air of the Western Conference’s titans.

Should be a fun stretch run.