How Can the Utah Jazz Climb Back Above .500?

The Utah Jazz have dug themselves into a hole that currently has them four games under .500. However, with an easier schedule ahead, there’s still plenty of time to turn things around.

In celebration of this weekend’s release of Star Wars Episode VII, I thought I’d start out with an analogy from a galaxy far, far away.

What would Luke Skywalker be without his lightsaber? How about Darth Vader without the Force, Grand Moff Tarkin without the Death Star or the Rebel Alliance without the help of the Ewoks? Who can imagine what C-3P0 would be like without R2-D2 or Han Solo without Chewbacca? And in light of recent theories, what would (Darth?) Jar Jar be without his always seemingly perfect dumb luck?

The answer to all these questions? They’d probably look a little something like the current Utah Jazz without Rudy Gobert – a shell of their former selves. With Gobert sidelined with an MCL injury, the Utah Jazz have lost their secret weapon. And apparently, without him in the mix it’s going to be a tough climb to get back to a .500 record.

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After Wednesday’s loss to the New Orleans Pelicans, it’s obvious that the Jazz are in a state of disarray without their starting center. Since Gobert went down with the MCL injury, the Jazz have managed to pull off a thrilling double overtime victory over the Indiana Pacers and to blow out the New York Knicks. And that’s about it. Aside from that, the Jazz have lost the other six games including the last four in a row.

With exception to the two losses to the Oklahoma City Thunder which the Jazz were able to keep surprisingly close, these losses have been pretty ugly for the most part. They were embarrassed by the Spurs by 37 points, were beaten easily by the Sacramento Kings in a game where Utah never seemed to find any sort of rhythm or put up much of a fight and, most recently, lost by ten to New Orleans in a game that saw the Jazz blow a sizable lead in a lopsided fourth quarter in which the Pelicans outscored the Jazz 31-15.

With Gobert out of the rotation, the Jazz have reverted to “pre-Enes Kanter trade” status as a team that occasionally competes but is never seen as a consistent threat. I shouldn’t need to remind you about that team’s 20-34 start last season. Despite having a solid second half of the year, it was far too late for Utah to bounce back from a dismal start.

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Now with a 10-14 record to start out the 2015-16 season, the Jazz are in danger of falling into a similar early hole that will be difficult to climb out of. However, at least in this case, there is a bit of good news ahead.

While the current four-game losing streak certainly stings, the fact that three of those losses came to two of the league’s top four teams makes the blow a little less severe.

But the loss to the New Orleans Pelicans is the most concerning. Are the Pelicans better than their awful start that currently has them in second to last place in the West? Probably so. But with the way that New Orleans had been playing on the road so far this season, it was definitely a game that the Jazz were expected to win. Especially considering that Derrick Favors did a phenomenal job containing Anthony Davis, one would expect that the other Jazz players could do their part to keep the rest of the team in check.

Nevertheless, such was not the case on Wednesday night. And while Gobert’s absence undoubtedly hurts the Jazz on both sides of the court, it shouldn’t hurt their effort. It doesn’t seem a stretch to say that the Jazz team that hung with the Thunder in SLC and took them to overtime in OKC wasn’t the same team that showed up against New Orleans.

In terms of hustle and intensity, particularly in that abysmal fourth quarter, the Jazz looked like a completely different squad.

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And therein lies the first thing that the Jazz must do to get back to that .500 mark – even when shots aren’t falling or opposing players get hot the Jazz have to keep their effort and intensity up. Part of that effort includes making sure key players are involved. In the fourth quarter, Hayward barely seemed to touch the ball, let alone make plays. The fact that his first points in the fourth quarter didn’t come until there was only 2:19 left is a real problem.

Despite sometimes being a streaky shooter, Hayward is the Jazz’s co-best player (along with Derrick Favors) and if the Jazz hope to win games, he has to be 100 percent engaged and make plays down the stretch.

While Hayward has struggled during the Jazz’s four-game losing streak, Favors put up solid nights in the first three of the Jazz’s latest losses and an exceptional performance against the Pelicans. While there’s nothing wrong with Favors’ respectable double-figure performances against the Spurs and Thunder, if the Jazz hope to regain ground with Gobert sidelined, Favors will have to be exceptional night in and night out.

“You’re going to have winning streaks and losing streaks just like you have bad games and good games. Just got to keep fighting.” – Derrick Favors

Then of course, Utah’s role players have to fill in the gaps. While it’s reassuring to see Rodney Hood finally start to snap out of his slump a little bit, it still seems like Hood and Alec Burks have yet to play a game where both contribute. Coach Snyder has struggled to find fitting starting lineups as evidenced by Raul Neto being in and out of the starting lineup and Jeff Withey recording the start against New Orleans.

While it appeared last year and is obvious this season that Gobert was the glue that brought this team together, they’ll have to figure out a way to gel without him on the court.

“I wouldn’t call it experimental mode, I would call it adjustment mode. I think we know at this point who we have.” – Quin Snyder on recent changes to starting lineup

Finally, looking ahead at Utah’s upcoming schedule, they have to take better advantage of games on their home court and against weaker opponents. In other words, the loss to New Orleans was an example of what exactly they should not do. The Utah Jazz currently have a losing record at home (5-6) and that is something that has to change very quickly.

Utah’s next two matchups are at home against the Denver Nuggets and Phoenix Suns, two teams that could challenge them for the eighth seed in the West. In fact, with the Jazz’s loss to New Orleans, Denver (11-14) now has a better record. Winning these next two games is vital for the Jazz as dropping either one could be detrimental both psychologically and for potential tiebreaker scenarios further down the road.

The Utah Jazz are fortunate to have a relatively easy schedule coming up in terms of opponent strength. If they are able to simply beat the upcoming teams that have a sub-.500 record, they will go 5-2 over their next seven games putting them at 15-16 at the end of December.

If they continue that success rate over teams with losing records into January, they will be back to .500 at 19-19 on January 13^th and up to 25-22 by the end of January. While by no means is this a given, particularly considering the Jazz’s recent inconsistencies, it does provide a more positive outlook for what lies ahead.

Needless to say, the Jazz have their work cut out for them. Yet in reality, they are still in decent shape. Gobert isn’t going to be out forever and as long as Favors and Hayward can help the team to weather the storm, the Jazz should be back on the positive side of .500 before too long,

While it would certainly be welcome, Utah doesn’t even have to pull off any incredible upsets in the next month in a half to do that. They simple have to buckle down, go to work, and get the job done by beating teams that they are more than capable of beating.

Don’t lose heart Jazz fans, this team can still get back on track in a hurry.

All stats courtesy of NBA.com/stats.