The Utah Jazz beat the Portland Trail Blazers 120-105 at Moda Center on Wednesday, achieving their fifth straight win.

The Jazz missed their franchise player Donovan Mitchell who suffered left low back strain. But the Trail Blazers lacked their second in command C.J. McCollum as well as starting power forward Robert Covington and starting center Jusuf Nurkic.

The depletion of strength hurt the Trail Blazers worse as it took away over half of the team's interior defense. By contrast, the Jazz can stand the absence of Mitchell because of their lineup depth.

The Jazz tried to hit the Trail Blazers in the paint, where it hurt the most, from the first possession of the game. Larry Nance Jr. may be a reliable defender playing small-ball center, but he was overwhelmed by Rudy Gobert and Hassan Whiteside in both size and strength. Jordan Clarkson and Mike Conley, like sharks that smelled blood, kept charging the Trail Blazers' rim. As for the rest of the team, they found it difficult to handle Bojan Bogdanovic in the low post in one-on-one defense.

The Jazz, in the end, scored 74 points in the paint and grabbed 13 offensive rebounds which led to 18 second-chance points. Their field goal (FG) rate was incredible; 71.2 percent (37-52). By contrast, the Trail Blazers shot at 15-29 to get only 30 points in the paint.

The only way for the home team to grapple with the opponents remained at the 3-point line. The Trail Blazers went 5-8 and 5-10 from downtown in the first and second quarter respectively, which was excellent.

However, the Jazz were doing well too, shooting at 7-15 behind the arc in the first half. Meanwhile, they were dominating the Trail Blazers from inside. As a result, the Jazz had a 10-point lead (69-59) after the first two quarters.

When both sides grew cold in triples from the third quarter, the Jazz still had reliable access to easy points in the paint but the Trail Blazers didn't. So, it's really not surprising that the Trail Blazers suffered their third loss in a row.

Ja Morant kicks Lakers out of Memphis with 41 points, 10 rebounds

The Memphis Grizzlies defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 104-99 at FedExForum on Wednesday for the third consecutive win.

Ja Morant proved to those who said the Grizzlies were better without him that he's still the best player of the team by dropping 41 points, 10 rebounds, two steals and two blocks. He was 6-7 at the 3-point line and scored 25 points for his team in the second half.

"I was taking what the defense gave me and it turned out good for us," Morant said. "That's normally how I attack every game. Tonight was just my night."

The Grizzlies show more energy than Lakers in Wednesday's game, both in offense and defense. They led in free throws drawn (29-8), free throws made (24-6) and offensive rebounds (13-7). Having trailed 54-48 in the first half, the Grizzlies had seven steals in the second half, reversing the situation 56-45.

As for the Lakers, their ace LeBron James had the sixth 30+point game (37 points) after shooting at 8-14 from downtown. He also had 13 rebounds, seven assists, two steals and two blocks.

Nonetheless, the purple and gold lost the fifth of those six games. Without Anthony Davis, Russell Westbrook seems to be the best one left to help shoulder James' responsibilities. Westbrook got a triple-double of 16 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists against the Grizzlies. He also had five turnovers. The 7-16 FG shooting performance was not pretty, but didn't look too bad on him, not to mention he made two 3-pointers out of four attempts.

However, neither Westbrook's nor James' efforts were enough to take the Lakers to victory on Wednesday. They still have brutal talents despite their age, but Morant and the rest of the Grizzlies have what it takes to match them and even outperform them.

It's unclear whether the NBA will be Morant's league in a while or not. One thing fur sure is that, it's not James' league anymore.

Other games on Wednesday (away teams come first):

New York Knicks 94-85 Detroit Pistons

Charlotte Hornets 116-108 Indiana Pacers

Atlanta Hawks 117-131 Chicago Bulls

Oklahoma City 97-115 Phoenix Suns

Dallas Mavericks 94-95 Sacramento Kings