The Portland Trail Blazers will visit the Utah Jazz at Vivint Smart Home Arena on Monday evening.

Both teams are among the league's hottest heading into Monday's tilt. The Trail Blazers (28-19) have won six of their last eight, including two straight. Portland boasts the league's eighth-highest offensive rating, thanks in no small part to the contributions of Damian Lillard. Lillard is averaging a team-high 26.1 points per game and led Portland with 24 points in its most recent win, which came against New Orleans. The Blazers have also seen increasingly strong production from big man Jusuf Nurkic. Nurkic has been dominant since the start of the new year, averaging 16.3 points, 11.4 rebounds, and 4.4 assists per game.

Nurkic and the Blazers will face a tough test in Utah, though, as the Jazz (26-21) boast a six-game win streak and the league's top defense since the start of December. Anchoring the team's strong defense, as always, has been reigning Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert. Gobert is currently averaging career highs in scoring (15.0 points per game), rebounding (13.1 rebounds per game), and assists (2.2 per game), in addition to his team-high average of 2.0 blocks. The Jazz have also begun to turn things around offensively after entering December with a bottom-five offensive rating in the league. Utah has improved to 20th in offensive efficiency and has scored 110 or more points in four of its last five games.