Watch Jazz vs. Trail Blazers: How to live stream, TV channel, start time for Wednesday's NBA game
How to watch Jazz vs. Trail Blazers basketball game
By Scout Staff
14 hrs ago
•
2 min read
Who's Playing
Portland @ Utah
Current Records: Portland 31-40; Utah 35-36
What to Know
The Utah Jazz need to shore up a defense that is allowing 117.28 points per game before their contest Wednesday. Their homestand continues as they prepare to take on the Portland Trail Blazers at 9 p.m. ET March 22 at Vivint Arena. If the matchup is anything like their 134-124 win from their previous meeting in January, the scorekeeper will be kept real busy.
The Jazz beat the Sacramento Kings 128-120 on Monday. Utah's small forward Ochai Agbaji was one of the most active players for the squad, shooting 6-for-10 from downtown and finishing with 27 points and five rebounds.
Meanwhile, Portland lost to the Los Angeles Clippers at home by a decisive 117-102 margin. A silver lining for the Trail Blazers was the play of center Jusuf Nurkic, who dropped a double-double on 23 points and 11 boards in addition to five assists.
Utah is the favorite in this one, with an expected 4-point margin of victory. They are currently six-for-six against the spread in their most recent games, a trend bettors might want to take into account.
Utah's victory lifted them to 35-36 while Portland's defeat dropped them down to 31-40. We'll see if Utah can repeat their recent success or if Portland bounces back and reverse their fortune.
How To Watch
When: Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET
Where: Vivint Arena -- Salt Lake City, Utah
TV: ATTSN Rocky Mountain
Online streaming: fuboTV (Try for free. Regional restrictions may apply.)
Follow: CBS Sports App
Ticket Cost: $17.00
Odds
The Jazz are a 4-point favorite against the Trail Blazers, according to the latest NBA odds.
The oddsmakers were right in line with the betting community on this one, as the game opened as a 4-point spread, and stayed right there.
Over/Under: -110
See NBA picks for every single game, including this one, from SportsLine's advanced computer model. Get picks now.
Series History
Utah have won 16 out of their last 29 games against Portland.
Jan 25, 2023 - Portland 134 vs. Utah 124
Dec 03, 2022 - Portland 116 vs. Utah 111
Nov 19, 2022 - Utah 118 vs. Portland 113
Apr 10, 2022 - Utah 111 vs. Portland 80
Mar 09, 2022 - Utah 123 vs. Portland 85
Dec 29, 2021 - Utah 120 vs. Portland 105
Nov 29, 2021 - Utah 129 vs. Portland 107
May 12, 2021 - Portland 105 vs. Utah 98
Apr 08, 2021 - Utah 122 vs. Portland 103
Dec 23, 2020 - Utah 120 vs. Portland 100
Feb 07, 2020 - Utah 117 vs. Portland 114
Feb 01, 2020 - Portland 124 vs. Utah 107
Dec 26, 2019 - Utah 121 vs. Portland 115
Jan 30, 2019 - Portland 132 vs. Utah 105
Jan 21, 2019 - Portland 109 vs. Utah 104
Dec 25, 2018 - Utah 117 vs. Portland 96
Dec 21, 2018 - Utah 120 vs. Portland 90
Apr 11, 2018 - Portland 102 vs. Utah 93
Feb 23, 2018 - Portland 100 vs. Utah 81
Feb 11, 2018 - Utah 115 vs. Portland 96
Nov 01, 2017 - Utah 112 vs. Portland 103
Apr 08, 2017 - Portland 101 vs. Utah 86
Apr 04, 2017 - Utah 106 vs. Portland 87
Feb 15, 2017 - Utah 111 vs. Portland 88
Oct 25, 2016 - Portland 113 vs. Utah 104
Feb 21, 2016 - Portland 115 vs. Utah 111
Jan 13, 2016 - Portland 99 vs. Utah 85
Dec 31, 2015 - Utah 109 vs. Portland 96
Nov 04, 2015 - Portland 108 vs. Utah 92
Ja Morant strives to be better, but there's another thing he can do to help his cause -- win
Ja Morant strives to be better, but there's another thing he can do to help his cause -- win
We love redemption stories and Morant is expected to start his next chapter Wednesday night
Bill Reiter
By Bill Reiter
19 hrs ago
•
4 min read
Watch Now:
Monday NBA Recap: Latest On Ja Morant's ...
(1:27)
There are no easy answers for why Ja Morant has done the things he's done -- or alleged to have done -- nor what they do or don't say about his future. But there is, for better or worse, an easy way to get past them.
Win.
And starting Wednesday night against the Houston Rockets, this is what Morant will again attempt to do. His expected return comes as the Western Conference feels as open as its been in at least a generation, as questions about his character and future linger, as a young star wrapped in talent and troubles enters an inflection point in the place he's perhaps best equipped to succeed -- the court.
"Obviously, took that time to better myself, get in a better space mentally," Morant told media Tuesday. "It's an ongoing process, a continued process for me. Obviously, I've been there for two weeks, but that doesn't mean I'm completely better. So that's an ongoing process for me that I've still been continuing since I've come out."
That all may well be true. But so is this: Morant returning and leading his team to a resounding playoff success -- a Finals appearance, say, if not an outright championship -- would be a successful process all its own.
Win, and all will be forgiven and forgotten. Perhaps talent should not trump all, but it does nonetheless. It's why he's back, why this brief suspension has felt well-choreographed all around, and why for all the fair questions about Morant the man, it's Morant the player who has been rushed back to the game.
For Morant and the Memphis Grizzlies, there are now two parallel tracks playing out, and overlapping, that will define the future of the player and his organization.
The first is his own actual personal journey. The attempt, we hope, to grow, to be better, to hopefully show that the immature and troubled young man weighed down by his own bad choices -- flashing a gun in the midst of separate gun-related accusations -- can be a better version of himself.
Let's hope he can. We all, in ways big or small, have needed fresh starts and the chances to be better.
But beyond perhaps cutting off the enablers, making much better choices and hoping his family eases him toward calm rather than conflict, trying to psychoanalyze Morant has no value. His off-court problems are of his own making, and I hope he can solve them. We should all hope that. But we don't know until we know.
But the second path that unfolds beginning Wednesday night will play out on the basketball court. And that path -- and its likelihood for success -- is much, much clearer. And much more likely to shape the forces that protect him in the years ahead.
Winning solves so many things. Maybe it should, maybe it shouldn't. But it does. Morant is young and talented and electric and a catalyst for a team that can be good, sometimes very good, without him. But his presence makes this team a potential contender at a time in which there are no clear favorites in the West.
The Nuggets have faded of late, and even at their best questions linger about their often-mediocre defense. The Suns are stacked, of course, but despite the expected return at the end of the month from injury, Kevin Durant is as much a question mark as a difference maker. He's played fewer than 100 minutes with the Phoenix Suns this season, and with that small sample size -- the rough equivalent of two full games and one overtime session -- it's anyone's guess as to what the team might do.
The Kings are fun, deep and have a wondrous offense, but what would be a historically-bad defense should they reach the NBA Finals. The Warriors can't win on the road. The Lakers can't even guarantee they'll find their way to a play-in game. The Mavericks look like they're figuring their way out of the play-in, though not in the good way. And it'll be a tense morning among the Clippers faithful after Paul George's gnarly looking leg injury Tuesday night.
Yet there's still a case for each of these teams to come out of the West, though perhaps there's a better case against each of them.
Enter the Grizzlies, and the return of Ja Morant. They have the game's best defense, they're young and athletic, and they have a moxy -- too much moxy, the Warriors might argue -- to be equally worthy of serious consideration.
What they have often lacked is offensive excellence and consistency. Morant could provide enough spark to change that.
It's easy to condemn Morant, or to argue without any criminal charges this was all much ado about nothing. Both are wrong.
Morant seems to be a troubled young man, and a great basketball player, and someone surrounded by those who can help and those who have done, and may continue to do, the opposite. It can all be true, all at once. Fame and talent and wealth can attract sycophants, greed, arrogance and empower bad decisions. But they can also serve as wake-up calls.
Some element of Morant's healing may come in the form of 48 minutes of NBA ball. Without trivializing the seriousness of the allegations, we know it's not uncommon for sports stars to find refuge from their problems inside the arena in which they compete.
Ja Morant will now have a private path forward, for better or worse, to turn his "ongoing process" into being a person who isn't allegedly flashing guns or rushing to confront security guards and teenagers.
And while he does that, he will hoop.
If he also wins, the Ja Morant story will change. People love stories of those who overcome their demons to be best versions of themselves -- but so much more so when, first and foremost, they're winners.