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2019-20 Matchup preview: Portland Trail Blazers vs. Utah Jazz

By Austin Carroll

SALT LAKE CITY, UT - JANUARY 21: Damian Lillard #0 of the Portland Trail Blazers handles the ball against Donovan Mitchell #45 of the Utah Jazz on January 21, 2019 at vivint.SmartHome Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Melissa Majchrzak/NBAE via Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY, UT - JANUARY 21: Damian Lillard #0 of the Portland Trail Blazers handles the ball against Donovan Mitchell #45 of the Utah Jazz on January 21, 2019 at vivint.SmartHome Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Melissa Majchrzak/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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The Portland Trail Blazers should have their hands full next season against one of the fastest rising teams in the NBA in the form of their division rival Utah Jazz.

While the Portland Trail Blazers and Denver Nuggets led the charge for the Northwest Division last year, the Utah Jazz themselves weren’t too far behind. After having one of the most successful offseasons in the league, Utah will be back stronger than ever for this upcoming season. Here’s how Portland stacks up against their up-and-coming rival.

Recent History

  • Most recent playoff meeting: 2000 WC Semi-Finals, Portland won in 5 games
  • Last year head-to-head: (2-2)
  • Last decade head-to-head: (19-21)

Although they have yet to face off in the postseason in this century thus far, these two teams developed quite a rivalry not so long ago. From 1988 to 2000, the Blazers and Jazz met six times in the playoffs, with Portland emerging victorious in four of those series. For the first time since Y2K, there’s enough kindle lying around to potentially reignite this once great rivalry. After splitting the season series for three consecutive years now, you can expect some great basketball whenever these two teams clash next season.

Key Matchups

We’ll get to sit back and enjoy the fireworks whenever this pair of guards face off against one another next season. While neither is the outright best player on their own team, they are still two of the best players the NBA has to offer. Players like Damian Lillard, Mike Conley and Rudy Gobert can be depended upon to play at a high level every night, but this matchup in particular may ultimately be what determines the fate of these two cities.

This meeting of high-powered guards may also give us a little insight as to who made the better decision in regards to playing in the FIBA World Cup — with McCollum foregoing the competition while Mitchell became one of Team USA’s leaders this summer.

As the saying goes, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Rodney Hood was originally drafted by the Utah Jazz in 2014, going on to play 227 games across four seasons with team. Despite showing flashes of greatness, Utah ultimately dealt him away to Cleveland for essentially just a 2024 second-round draft pick. That’s… hardly a desirable return for a former first-round pick. As it turns out, Utah would end up dishing out a four-year, $73 million contract this summer to replace that wing production in the form of Croatian sniper Bojan Bogdanovic. Not to say Bogdanovic isn’t worth that money, but it looks rather silly in comparison when the Blazers should get similar production from Hood next year at a price tag of just $5.7 million.

What to Expect

Truth be told, the Jazz should be one of the toughest matchups for the Blazers next year. All three players on their roster that averaged more than 28 minutes per game will be returning next year. Meanwhile, only four players from last year’s rotation will be available to play on opening day for the Blazers. While Portland was forced to buy low on players with perceived issues on or off the court, Utah had the cap room and trade capital necessary to pick up real locker room leaders like Mike Conley and Ed Davis.

Not having Jusuf Nurkic on the floor until a projected return date of February will also significantly hurt the Blazers. As good as Hassan Whiteside is when he’s on his game, Rudy Gobert is debatably a top three center in the league and will create problems for Portland on both ends of the court. It’s also likely the Blazers initially struggle to keep up with Utah’s upgraded bench. All of that isn’t the end of the world though. Establishing a healthy on-court chemistry and ensuring the younger players develop properly is what will help prepare the squad for the playoffs.

Next. Matchup preview: Trail Blazers vs. Nuggets. dark

So even if the Jazz finally manage to break this regular season stalemate, don’t expect the Blazers to lie down when the playoffs roll around. Otherwise they’ll be more than happy to doll out the same lesson to Utah that Denver learned the hard way just last year.