Utah Jazz Must Be Prepared For Friday’s Home Opener

Although it’s still very early in the season, the Utah Jazz need to treat Friday’s home opener, and every game this year, as a crucial contest in their quest for a playoff berth.

If there’s one thing we have learned from the first week of 2016-17 NBA action, it’s that this is a league of professionals where just about anything can happen.

The Boston Celtics won a nail-biter against a Brooklyn Nets team that was projected to be dismal this season. The unrefined Denver Nuggets pulled out a victory against the New Orleans Pelicans despite Anthony Davis’ monster 50-point game.

The Oklahoma City Thunder barely staved off the supposedly hapless Philadelphia 76ers. And perhaps most notably, the highly touted Golden State Warriors were obliterated by the San Antonio Spurs in the most lopsided game during the first two days of action.

These outcomes just go to show that truly any team is capable of competing and winning on any given night. If a team comes in unprepared or lackadaisical, it can prove fatal, even for the most elite of squads.

Another example of this came from the team who will be the Utah Jazz’s opponent in their home opener on Friday night — The Los Angeles Lakers.

Though the Houston Rockets don’t figure to be an elite team by any means, they were still undoubtedly favored to triumph over the young and rebuilding Lakers squad. Nevertheless, in a thrilling finish on Wednesday night, the youthful Lakers led by first-year head coach Luke Walton came away with a 120-114 win over James Harden and the Rockets.

It’s easy to say that it was only one game, that it was against a Rockets team that is also adjusting to its several offseason changes, and that it’s not that impressive since Coach D’Antoni’s Rockets don’t play a lick of defense.

But considering how bad L.A. has been in recent years and the undeniable fact that there is quite a bit of veteran talent on that Houston team, it was a pretty significant victory for the Lakers.

https://twitter.com/Laker_Show/status/791507490898870273

Which is why the Jazz absolutely have to bring their A-game coming into Friday’s home opener. While Utah is a more talented team than the Lakers in almost any way you look at it, that doesn’t mean that the young opposing squad won’t compete. And Utah better be ready to compete back.

Over the course of the last two seasons, it seems like the Jazz have fallen into the frustrating habit of playing to the level of their competition. Last year, the Jazz took the Warriors and Thunder down to the wire several times, defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers at home and beat several other formidable playoff squads.

And yet, for each “statement win” or closely contested game, it seemed like Utah would come in less focused and prepared against worse opponents and at times completely lay an egg.

They were swept by the subpar Orlando Magic last season. They struggled against teams like the Sacramento Kings and Detroit Pistons. After a stunning seven-game winning streak last year, the Jazz went on to drop consecutive games to the mediocre Pelicans and Washington Wizards.

Then there was that late February loss to an awful Nets team that came in the middle of a costly five-game losing streak. And how could any fan forget that dreadful April loss to the L.A. Clippers’ reserves that essentially doomed Utah’s playoff hopes for good.

But last year is done and gone. And the good news is that with the insertion of veterans and overall increase in maturity on this Jazz team, some of those mental struggles and lack of focus should be shored up dramatically in the 2016-17 season.

Which is extremely good news, because whether they’re facing an elite opponent like the Warriors, Spurs or Cavs, or a lesser team such as the 76ers, Nets, or even this Friday’s foe, the Lakers, the Jazz can’t sleep on any team. The level of talent in this league is too good to take any one squad for granted.

Time will tell if Houston “slept” on the Lakers or if the team brewing in L.A. is truly better than the Rockets. Though I bet most would predict the former over the latter.

While the Jazz struggled to look like an upper-tier team against weak opponents and haven’t boasted a daunting home court advantage in many years, Friday’s home opener against the Lakers is a first step to changing that.

While some could say this game is just game two of a long 82-game season, I truly think it’s bigger than that. Utah can’t afford to go into the game overconfident or ill prepared. They can’t afford to come out of that game with a deflating loss when fans are so amped up and such a tough stretch of games lies ahead.

With a fearless Laker team coming to town before a rabid crowd of Jazz fans desperate for their team to finally make a splash in the West, Utah has the chance to prove that they no longer play down to the level of their competition but rather that they set a high bar that their opponents have to try to match. They have a chance to prove that they won’t be bullied at home.

And after a disappointing loss to Portland in the season opener, they can show that they’re able to bounce back and that all the hype this summer was for real.

So while many will write this game off as an easy victory for the Jazz, the team better not look at it that way. This, and every game, should be viewed as a critical contest.

Utah will have to fight tooth and nail to make its way up the Western Conference standings. And though the playoffs are a long ways away, dropping “gimme games” in October and November can have dramatic effects on playoff seeding down the road.

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So forget how the teams compare on paper, forget preseason rankings, forget the betting lines. The Jazz will have to be ready to come in and give their all in this and every game this season if they’re truly to evolve into the team they’ve been projected and designed to become.

The Lakers already proved they’re able to compete. It’s time for the Jazz to prove that they’re up to the challenge.

And thus show as well that they’ll be up to the challenges they’ll undoubtedly face all season long.