Golden State @ Utah preview

Last Meeting ( Mar 25, 2018 ) Utah 110, Golden State 91

The Utah Jazz punched their ticket to the postseason with a win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday but are still waiting for the seedings to shake themselves out. The Jazz will try to lock up homecourt advantage in the first round when they host the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday.

Utah finishes up at third-place Portland on Wednesday and is coming into the postseason as hot as any team in the NBA after going 28-5 over its last 33 games to surge from nine games under .500 to the top half of the West playoff bracket. "I think we had the potential to play like that all year," swingman Joe Ingles told ESPN.com. "We were missing guys all year. It has really only been this last stretch, kind of since Rudy (Gobert) got back, that we had the majority of our whole team healthy. And it takes time to get rhythm playing together. We had a reasonably big turnaround from the previous years of players and you got a guy drafted playing 35 minutes a game. It takes time getting used to playing with guys." The Warriors are locked into the No. 2 spot and are just trying to get themselves healthy and back in rhythm before heading to the postseason. Golden State looked more like themselves in a 117-100 win at Phoenix on Sunday that snapped a two-game slide.

TV: 9 p.m. ET, NBCS Bay Area (Golden State), AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain (Utah)

ABOUT THE WARRIORS (58-23): Golden State is still missing All-Star point guard Stephen Curry (knee) but can survive his absence in the first round of the playoffs if Klay Thompson plays like he did on Sunday. The All-Star shooting guard scored 22 of his 34 points in the first quarter and even had the Phoenix fans on his side. "That was fun to watch," Warriors coach Steve Kerr told reporters. "He had the arena pretty excited. Every time he went up for a shot after that first few, you could hear the anticipation of the crowd. Yeah, he had it rolling."

ABOUT THE JAZZ (47-33): Utah began its surge forward shortly after Gobert returned from a knee injury, and he is averaging 14.5 points and 11.5 rebounds over the last 33 games. "Making the playoffs, it means a lot to us," Gobert told reporters. "We always knew we could do it. We went through the offseason and training camp and we worked hard as a team and organization to get to this point. We’re excited, but it’s only the beginning." Gobert is getting plenty of help from rookie guard Donovan Mitchell, who led the way in the clinching win with 28 points, nine rebounds and eight assists.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Warriors SF Andre Iguodala (knee) sat out five of the last six games and is not expected to play on Tuesday.

2. Jazz PF Derrick Favors collected 10 points and 13 rebounds on Sunday for his first double-double since Feb. 14.

3. Utah took the last two in the series, including a 110-91 win at Golden State on March 25.

PREDICTION: Jazz 119, Warriors 113