The Utah Jazz quietly hung around in the Western Conference playoff race during an injury-plagued first half before getting healthy and starting to climb in the standings.
Utah's resurgence could come at the expense of the Denver Nuggets.
In a matchup between Northwest Division rivals suddenly battling each other for playoff position, the Jazz look to win their 10th straight overall - and 11th in a row at home - when they host the Nuggets on Friday night.
Denver (40-22) has held the top spot in the Northwest since Dec. 9. The Nuggets, though, are under a lot more pressure now that the Jazz (38-23) are playing their best basketball of the season.
Utah has won nine straight since Feb. 11 to pull within 1 1/2 games of the division lead. It's the team's longest winning streak since it won 10 in a row from Jan. 18-Feb. 6 of last season.
Part of the reason behind Utah's surge is that the Jazz are finally healthy again. Point guard Deron Williams missed most of the first month of the season with an ankle injury, and by the time he came back, Carlos Boozer was out with a strained quadriceps tendon. The two-time All-Star power forward then underwent knee surgery before finally making it back into the lineup Feb. 23.
Boozer looked rusty in his first four games back before delivering 20 points and 17 rebounds in a 101-94 win over Houston on Wednesday night.
"My knee's getting better and better. Every day is an improvement," he said. "I'm trying to stay encouraged about it. I still can't jump high, but that's OK. I'm going to continue to take what they give me and figure out a way to be effective."
Williams scored 10 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter of Wednesday's victory to hold off a Houston rally and keep the win streak alive.
"All of these games coming up are important with how tight the West is and we just have to keep it rolling," Williams said. "...We really needed this game because they're right there ahead of us."
That also applies to the Nuggets, who avoided falling out of first place Thursday night with a 106-90 win over Portland, now tied with Utah for second in the division. Denver had lost five of its previous seven, including a defeat in Detroit on Tuesday night while star forward Carmelo Anthony served a team-imposed one-game suspension.
Anthony, who was being disciplined for refusing to come out of Sunday's loss at Indiana, returned to score 38 points against the Blazers, his second highest total of the season.
"I wanted to be aggressive tonight with a must-win after the two losses," Anthony said. "After everything that was going on, it was good to come out and have a good game tonight. ... I was feeling it since this morning. I wanted this game so bad tonight."
Anthony carried a Nuggets team playing without starting forward Kenyon Martin and backup point guard Anthony Carter, sidelined by back and hip injuries, respectively. Both could return Friday.
The Nuggets and Jazz have split their first two meetings this season. Utah took a 98-94 home win Oct. 29 behind 25 points and 14 rebounds from Boozer. The Jazz have won six of seven at home against the Nuggets and 10 straight overall at EnergySolutions Arena since Jan. 27.
The Jazz were without both Boozer and top reserve Andrei Kirilenko for their 117-97 loss in Denver on Jan. 25. Anthony also missed that game because of a hand injury, but the Nuggets got 28 points from Nene and 22 apiece from Chauncey Billups and J.R. Smith to even the series.
The teams close the series April 2 in Denver.
