As Injury Bug Hits Other Teams, Utah Jazz Have Big Opportunity

With the third place Houston Rockets and fourth place Los Angeles Clippers facing injuries to significant players, the Utah Jazz have an incredible opportunity to climb further up the standings.

Given the fact that the Utah Jazz are currently 18-10, in fifth place in the West and are on a streak that has seen them win 11 of their last 13 games, it’s hard to find much to complain about in Jazz Nation. However, the one irritant that has been practically a constant for the Jazz this season has been their nearly unrelenting bout with injuries.

However, things are looking up of late as Gordon Hayward, Rodney Hood and Derrick Favors all returned to action last week and while Favors still has a ways to go to work himself back into game shape and is set to rest in tonight’s contest against the Warriors, it’s been great to see them all back on the court.

Out of fear of jinxing this squad I’m hesitant to say this, but it appears that Utah is finally getting healthy and getting closer to becoming the team they were forecasted to be over the offseason.

And while I really, truly hate to see any player or team inflicted by injuries as the Jazz have been, it appears that at least for the moment the injury bug is beginning to vacate its longtime Salt Lake City home and is moving its way over to two of Utah’s closest competitors in the Western Conference, the Los Angeles Clippers and Houston Rockets.

It was announced yesterday that Clippers star power forward Blake Griffin will undergo arthroscopic knee surgery and be sidelined for three to six weeks and news also broke that the Houston Rockets will be without starting center Clint Capela for at least four to six weeks after he suffered a fractured fibula in Houston’s overtime win against the Timberwolves on Saturday.

Both of these injuries are devastating blows to the two teams that just so happen to be sitting above the Jazz at third and fourth place in the West.

Now don’t get me wrong, I truly would prefer if a full-strength Jazz team could take on full-strength Rockets and Clippers teams and surpass them in the standings on a level playing field. However, injuries are a part of the game and a truly level playing field seldom exists in the NBA.

Therefore, while I feel for Griffin, Capela, and their respective teams and fan bases, the fact of the matter is that in a league where winning is everything and opportunities can’t be squandered, Utah has a great chance to take advantage of the injury misfortune of their conference foes (a misfortune that the Jazz themselves are all too familiar with) and skyrocket up the standings.

Blake Griffin has certainly had his share of injury woes over the course of his career and they were a leading contributor to the Clippers’ demise to end last season as they were bounced in the first round of the playoffs.

With per-game averages of 21.2 points, 8.8 rebounds and 4.7 assists so far this season, it’s pretty clear that Griffin’s presence will be severely missed moving forward. Los Angeles looked like it was going to be a heavyweight opponent battling right there with the Spurs and Warriors to start out the season, but they’ve taken a significant dip since then and Griffin’s lengthy absence will likely only further that trend.

For the Rockets, while Capela isn’t an All-Star or their top dog by any means, losing the rising young center is still a significant blow. Houston has been one of the surprises of the season so far as they have gone from barely squeaking into the playoffs last season to rising all the way to third place in the Western Conference at this point in the year and are only 1.5 games out of second place.

The Rockets have been able to improve for several reasons such as head coach Mike D’Antoni implementing his rapid-fire offense that fits the personnel extremely well and moving James Harden over to point guard where he can run the offense, distribute and score at will.

But one noticeable improvement this year has been their defense. Despite D’Antoni’s breakneck pace, the Rockets are actually much better defensively as they’ve improved significantly from last season in both opponent points per game and defensive efficiency. Clint Capela has been a big part of that defensive revamp.

On the year, Capela is averaging 11.8 points and 8 rebounds and rivaling Rudy Gobert‘s field goal percentage by shooting 64 percent, which is good for third in the league behind only DeAndre Jordan and the Stifle Tower himself.

Capela also puts up 1.6 blocks per game and in a lot of ways serves a very similar role for the Rockets as what Gobert does for the Jazz. He’s a young, athletic big who moves well on the court and defends the rim effectively. He’s a high-energy guy and has been a solid X-factor for Houston this year.

Thus, his loss, though not quite as devastating as Griffin’s is for the Clippers, is still a significant blow for the Rockets.

And after Utah’s impressive win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday that put them securely into fifth place in the Western Conference, they now find themselves knocking at the door to take over the Clippers’ fourth place spot or the Rockets’ place at third. Utah is currently just two games out of fourth place and three out of third.

Therefore, given the injury woes to the teams that are currently neck and neck with Utah in the Western Conference playoff race, the Jazz have a very realistic chance of sneaking their way up the standings if they can take care of business themselves and win the games in which they are the favorites.

Of course Utah has a tough task this week as they’ll take on the Golden State Warriors tonight and the Toronto Raptors on Friday, but in between that they’ll face off against the Kings at home then finish up the month of December with contests against practically guaranteed lottery teams in the Lakers, 76ers and Suns.

The Rockets, meanwhile, have been on a tear lately winning ten straight games in their impressive run that has seen them climb rapidly up the standings. However, they’ll be in for a challenging stretch as four of their next games feature contests against the Spurs, Grizzlies, Clippers and Thunder.

The Clippers on the other hand were on a four-game winning streak before dropping Sunday’s contest to the Wizards and have truly been up and down since their hot start. They have a similarly challenging stretch ahead to close out the month of December and of course when the Clips take on the Rockets, regardless of who loses, the Jazz win.

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So despite the challenges ahead for all three teams, with the Clippers and Rockets now having to deal with these new and significant injury woes and the Jazz having the fortune of playing four extremely winnable games over their next six, it wouldn’t be a stretch to see the Jazz move up yet another spot in the standings by the end of the month.

Beyond that, it will be hard to say. Both LA and Houston boast All-Star caliber talent that has certainly dealt with injury problems before so don’t expect these injuries to cause them to simply roll over. Furthermore, while the Jazz are on a tear lately, they still have a lot to prove and need to get a lot more healthy themselves.

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Nevertheless, with such significant opportunity knocking in the Western Conference standings, Utah has to take advantage. While it’s unfortunate to see injuries befall any team, they’re also a leading reason why Utah stumbled somewhat out of the gates and started out lower in the standings than where many thought they ought to be.

Now, however, with that same issue attacking Utah’s closest competition, they could very well use it this time to their advantage to propel their way up near the top of the Western Conference.

All stats courtesy of NBA.com