(My Sportsbook) - The Utah Jazz resume a season-long, six-game homestand Saturday, when they welcome the Northwest Division-rival Portland Trail Blazers to EnergySolutions Arena.
The Jazz improved to 2-1 on the residency on Thursday after Carlos Boozer totaled 28 points, eight rebounds, five assists and three blocked shots, as Utah defeated Chicago, 105-86.
Deron Williams added 21 points, six assists and three steals for the Jazz, who won for a fourth time in the last five games. Ronnie Brewer posted 15 points, Mehmet Okur 14 and Paul Millsap 12 in the win, with Utah shooting an outstanding 60.8 percent from the field.
"It was kind of a totally different team that we were tonight. We were a lot more alive and a lot more aggressive than we were the other night," said Jazz coach Jerry Sloan referring to his team's 10-point loss to the Thunder on Tuesday. "It was a good win. I thought everybody contributed pretty well, almost everybody that got out there had a pretty good showing."
Utah will finish its homestand with bouts against Memphis and Indiana.
Portland, meanwhile, just went 3-1 on a four-game homestand and suffered a 106-96 setback versus the Grizzlies on Friday in the finale of the residency.
Brandon Roy had 26 points, nine assists and eight rebounds for the Blazers, who lost for only the third time in 13 tries. Martell Webster scored 24 points, while Greg Oden ended with 13 and 10 rebounds in the setback.
"We shot the ball terrible in the first half," Roy said. "We tried to get back in that game with our offense. While we were doing that, they were getting easy points."
The Blazers and Jazz split a four-game season series last year with the home team holding serve in each contest. Overall, Utah has won three straight and nine of the past 10 against the Blazers in Salt Lake City.