The Utah Jazz have been on a tear in recent weeks, but will be in for quite the challenge this week as they’ll take on two elite opponents in their three-game slate.
I think it’s safe to say that the Utah Jazz are on a roll.
Winners of 11 of the last 13, the Jazz have skyrocketed up the standings all the way to fifth in the Western Conference. That hot streak has included recent wins over tough Western Conference foes such as the Oklahoma City Thunder and Memphis Grizzlies.
And with these big wins, the Jazz are continuing to solidify themselves more and more as a true playoff team and threat in the West. Sitting at an 18-10 record currently, the Jazz now find themselves only two games out of fourth place and they still aren’t even fully healthy. For comparison, it’s amazing to think that last season through the first 28 games, the Jazz were a disappointing 12-16.
My what a difference a year makes.
This is the first time since 2009-10 the Utah Jazz have been this good. Reminder: They won 53 games that year. pic.twitter.com/PlNbHmwVtz
— NBA Math (@NBA_Math) December 17, 2016
As we get set to head into the ninth week of NBA action, the Jazz will look to continue their hot streak through a three-game slate. However, this week features a couple of opponents who will provide an even tougher challenge than what Utah faced last week as they’ll visit Oracle Arena, the home of the Warriors, on Tuesday then welcome the second best team in the Eastern Conference, the Toronto Raptors, into Salt Lake on Friday.
In between those games they’ll take on the Sacramento Kings who Utah breezed past in their first meeting.
JAZZ WIN! #SACatUTA pic.twitter.com/IV08OgIKPo
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) December 11, 2016
But while the Jazz went 3-0 in impressive fashion this past week, they’ll be hard pressed to do that for a second consecutive time.
In fact, I had actually pinned them as going 2-1 last week, bringing my prediction record for the season to an even 14-14 (though I did later change my prediction for the Grizzlies game prior to that contest after seeing how well Utah played throughout the week), so while last week’s success was impressive, a 3-0 week this time around would be even more surprising.
The Jazz have undoubtedly proven themselves as a tough opponent for any team in the league, but a solid week in this upcoming slate would prove them as much more than that.
They’ll still likely be without George Hill and Alec Burks for a while longer yet, so it’s still hard to fully assess this Jazz team. Nevertheless, if they can keep up their stifling D, continue to close out games well and get incredible performances out of Rudy Gobert like they have been, Utah could very well take another leap forward in the standings with an incredible ninth week of action.