Utah Jazz Looking to Hit Road Trip on a High Note
After capturing consecutive wins in impressive fashion, the Utah Jazz will look to make it three in a row against the Spurs before heading out on the road.
The Utah Jazz have played a brilliant brand of basketball in the last two games. The shots were falling, the defense was stifling and the energy was cranked up to the max. They are exceeding expectations that even the most enthusiastic of fans have set.
A five-game road stretch over the course of just seven days is now on the horizon, the results of which could prove critical come April. A home win against a vengeful San Antonio Spurs squad on our home floor would go a long way in helping the Jazz head East with high hopes.
Despite four of those five road games being against projected non-playoff opponents, playing five games in seven nights will take a toll on players and wins will still be hard to come by.
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After the home game against the Spurs on Friday night, the Jazz will head to New York for an 11 AM game against the Knicks. They will then head out to play the up-and-coming Philadelphia 76ers the following night. A much-needed one-day break will come and then it’s down to Charlotte to take on Jazz-killer Kemba Walker and the Hornets. After another day of rest, they’ll play another back-to-back in Florida against the Magic and the Heat.
I expected that the Jazz would get to a 3-3 start before they go out on the five game road trip, and they have a chance to get ahead of that record in a rare home game against Kawhi Leonard’s Spurs. An acceptable record for the Jazz as they head back to Salt Lake City just over a week from now would be 6-5. If they are any better than that, it will be considered a very successful beginning to the season.
It’s key that the Jazz take a couple comfortable wins against the lesser teams like Philly and Orlando so the starters can rest up. This is where the added depth and solid bench will come into play. The schedule really opens up at that point as the Jazz have 12 of their next 16 games at home.
George Hill and Rudy Gobert are always going to be consistent as far as scoring goes, they are generally good for 19 and 12 points respectively. This is where it’s important that Rodney Hood and Derrick Favors jump in to share roughly 38, which would really solidify the offense in the starting line-up. Joe Johnson will be the other starter that can chip in with three-point shooting and excellent post play.
Things are always discovered about teams on extended road trips and Dante Exum could be the player to make huge leaps in terms of development. That’s something fans can keep an eye on and hopefully get excited about as he comes into his own offensively. His defense is already sound, evidenced by his four block effort in San Antonio.
Injuries have haunted the Jazz throughout the early part of this season. It’s unlikely that Boris Diaw or Gordon Hayward will make their way back into the lineup during the road trip and Alec Burks is out indefinitely after ankle surgery. Diaw wasn’t too impressive in the starting lineup as he struggled defending the post and shooting the three.
Favors, on the other hand, has been key in the Jazz’s success these past few games since coming back from IT band syndrome. He hasn’t had many post touches since making his return, but Jazz coach Quin Snyder may be able to lean on his hotshooting backcourt duo while he continues to get back into the swing of things.
Seasons are historically made and broken on long road trips and the Jazz 2015-16 campaign was derailed by one.
Let’s hope for a different outcome this time around.