The set-up: It's been a trying season for the Golden State Warriors but at 58-23, the Warriors have long ago clinched the West's No. 2 seed. Meanwhile, 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 Warriors on Tuesday. Utah finishes up at No. 3 seed 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. As noted, the Warriors are locked into the No. 2 spot and priority No. 1 has to be getting themselves healthy and back in rhythm before heading to the postseason. Golden State snapped a two-game slide with a 117-100 win at Phoenix on Sunday but come on, it was the Suns!
Golden State: The Warriors are still missing All-Star point guard Stephen Curry (26.4-5.1-6.1) but most expect that the Warriors can survive his absence in the first round of the playoffs. KD (26.6-6.9-5.4), Thompson (20.0) and Green (11.1-7.7-7.3) should be enough. However, Golden State has lost nine of its last 16 games and defense has been a primary factor behind the slump. The Warriors allowed 126 points in back-to-back losses to Indiana and New Orleans, as the Pacers shot 54 percent and the Pelicans shot 56 percent.

Utah: The Jazz have began their surge shortly after center Rudy Gobert returned from a knee injury. He is averaging 14.5 points and 11.5 rebounds over the last 33 games. 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. The Louisville product is averaging 20.5-3.7-3.7 on the season.

The pick: The Warriors have suffered two straight lopsided losses to Utah and they fell 129-99 to the Jazz in their other visit to Salt Lake City back on Jan. 27. However, don't be too sure the Warriors will 'mail it in,' here. If Golden State wins, it would finish the season at 59-23 and if the Raptors were to lose Wednesday night in Miami, those teams would finish with the exact same record. However, because the Warriors won both regular season meetings, Golden State would earn the homecourt edge in a possible Finals' showdown. Anyone think that Golden State doesn't believe it is more than capable of getting past the Rockets in the West? Maybe I'm 'all wet' here but I'm taking the points and making Golden St a 10* play.