The Utah Jazz will visit the Los Angeles Clippers at Staples Center on Wednesday evening.

Wednesday's tilt will see two teams heading in different directions go head to head. Utah (24-21) has reemerged as a playoff contender, winning six of its last seven games and moving to eighth place in the Western Conference, while the Clippers (24-19) are hoping for some better luck after losing three in a row. The Jazz has found recent success thanks largely to its strong defense, which has held opponents to under 100 points four times in the team's last seven outings. Utah boasts the league's fourth-best defensive rating, and big man Rudy Gobert continues to be an anchor for the team, averaging 2.0 blocks and 0.9 steals per game. The Jazz has also seen an upward trend on the offensive end, as the team is averaging 109.5 points per game since the start of December, up from 102.3 points per game in November.


LA, on the other hand, has taken some tough losses recently. The Clippers are fresh off a 117-121 loss to New Orleans in which they came back from a 20-point deficit only to have their comeback foiled by superstar big man Anthony Davis in the closing minute. Still, LA has plenty to be proud of, as the team boasts one of the league's elite offenses. The Clippers are scoring 115.3 points per game, the fourth-highest clip in the league. Forwards Tobias Harris and Danilo Gallinari continue to drive the team's offense, scoring 20.8 points and 19.7 points per game respectively.