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(34-31).....................(44-24)

In the midst of a brutal Western road trip, Toronto is desperately seeking road wins to maintain playoff position over some rising teams in the East. After a stop in Sacramento Sunday night, the game against Utah will end a 5-game Western swing that has left the Raptors searching for some answers. They currently sit 5th in Eastern Conference, holding a slim lead over Washington and the red-hot 76ers.

Toronto's defense during this road trip has been horrible. Utah's home scoring and offensive production is the best in the NBA right now, so they will have an extremely tough assignment against literally the best offensive team in the NBA while on their home floor. Conversely, though, Utah's defense is sub-par and they have been known to take nights off. Being that Toronto is a jumpshooting team, they will need to have some great shooting nights to get a win in Salt Lake City.

Utah finally returns home after their last extended road trip of the season, and will host their next 8 out of 9 games at home, as well as their remaining 10 of the 14 games left on the season. During their road trip, they dropped 2 games against bad teams, but also posted a comeback win in Milwaukee, and looked dominant against the Celtics. The road struggles of this team are still not solved, but they still maintain the best home record in the NBA at 28-3.

To win this game the Jazz just need to do what they do at home - post a dominant quarter or two and stay aggressive. Toronto does have some good outside shooters, but aren't known to post good rebounding games and are a mediocre defensive team. Physical play and some sound defense should spell a Jazz win here.