Golden State Should Be Glad Utah Jazz Missed the Playoffs

Although the Golden State Warriors would likely never admit it, they truly should be glad to face off against the Houston Rockets rather than the Utah Jazz in the first round of the 2016 NBA Playoffs.

With the first round of the NBA Playoffs now underway, basketball fans were treated to two thrilling match-ups on the first day of action in the Raptors vs. Pacers and Hawks vs. Celtics series and two snoozers in the Warriors vs. Rockets and Thunder vs. Mavericks series.

Of course it’s no secret that at one point the Utah Jazz appeared poised to charge their way into the playoffs and seize that eighth seed which would’ve put them where the Rockets currently reside. And though Golden State would likely never admit it, having no reason to show discomfort with any match-up, they truly should be grateful to be playing against Houston rather than Utah.

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Now this isn’t to say that Utah would have pushed them to a seven-game series and had a chance to upset them. In fact, I’m not even saying that the Jazz would have necessarily been able to win a single game in the overwhelming David vs. Goliath scenario. However, a match-up with the grinding, hustling, resilient, never-say-die Jazz team would have certainly been much more taxing than what’s sure to be a laughable contest against Houston.

In three games against Houston in the regular season, Golden State won by an average of 12.3 points per game. However this number is misleading as the Warriors put on a 20-point victory in the Toyota Center early in the season and Houston’s narrowest loss – a four-point defeat on New Year’s Eve – came while the shorthanded Warriors were playing without Stephen Curry, Harrison Barnes, and Festus Ezeli. All in all, the Warriors made light work of the Rockets in what is a very favorable match-up for them.

That is very much in contrast to the regular season series against the Jazz. While Utah, who struggles on the road as it is, was undoubtedly manhandled in both contests within Oracle Arena, their home court performances were two of the most exhilarating of the year, despite the disappointing results.

In both contests, the Jazz led for much of the way before faltering down the stretch including an overtime loss on March 30th that could have easily been avoided with some late made free throws. In both games, the Jazz had sequences where they kept Curry in check exceptionally well, yet the reigning MVP still found ways to will his team to victory.

However, contrast this to Game 1 of the Golden State and Houston series where the Warriors jumped out to a 27-point halftime lead, then despite losing Steph Curry for the majority of the second half to an ankle injury, the Warriors still demolished the Rockets by a final score of 104-78. In Game 1 of the series, Houston proved no match for the defending world champions.

And the match-up itself is truly the reason why Golden State should be glad that they get to face Houston rather than Utah. Sure, regular season games and playoff games are completely different animals, but the fact of the matter is that Utah’s personnel provides a much tougher match-up for the Warriors than Houston’s.

James Harden is a crafty scorer who is more talented than any one player on the Jazz (however he did finish 7 of 19 from the field with an abysmal plus/minus of minus-27). Yet no team is going to be able to outgun the Warriors, so more importantly than offense against them is defense — something that Harden very much lacks while the Jazz thrive on it.

Utah’s grind-it-out, slow-the-pace style allowed them to hang in close games and resulted in their posting the second best defense in the league at just 95.9 points allowed per game. This sort of stifling defense would create a much more tiring and difficult series than that of the Rockets which finished 25th in league surrendering 106.4 points per game.

Lastly, while the Warriors do have to worry about Harden, outside of him the Rockets have no true playmaker or offensive threat that they are tasked with containing. As Harden goes, so goes Houston. Meanwhile, the Jazz, despite not having a scorer like Harden, have a well-balanced group where several players can go off on any given night.

Furthermore, the closest thing to a weakness the Warriors have is their frontcourt (and that’s stretching it because Draymond Green and Andrew Bogut are no pushovers). Meanwhile, the Jazz’s two towers, Derrick Favors and Rudy Gobert, can be a handful for any opponent.

Having to contain both of them would have been much more problematic and taxing than Houston’s Dwight Howard who is a shell of the center he used to be and whose effort comes and goes at best.

In fact, apart from the stats and match-up issues, the effort and hustle exhibited by the Jazz are key as well. For anyone who followed Utah this year, there was no denying the heart and energy they played with all season despite the occasional lack of focus or onslaught of careless mistakes. This attitude and approach to the game would have surely provided more of a challenge for Golden State than the Rockets’ lackadaisical, hang-your-head, frustrated approach that was in full display in Game 1.

So while the Utah Jazz likely would have found themselves quickly dispatched to the superior Golden State Warriors, much like the Rockets likely soon will be, there’s almost no denying that they would have put up more of a fight and created a more competitive and taxing series for the Warriors.

While Curry’s ankle injury could potentially throw a wrench in things, if Game 1 is any indication of what the rest of the series will be like, the Warriors will breeze through in four games without taking much toll and having plenty in the tank for their second round match-up.

Had the Jazz taken care of business down the stretch and qualified for the playoffs as they truly were capable of doing, the Warriors could have found themselves recovering from a much tougher series physically and mentally.

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Yet, instead the Jazz are on the outside looking in at a series that could have been. A fact that, whether they admit it or not, Golden State should be very grateful about.

All stats courtesy of NBA.com/stats