Jazz vs. Rockets
The Houston Rockets have quite honestly been a pretty significant surprise so far this season. Under head coach Mike D’Antoni and in moving James Harden to the point guard position the Rockets have thrived up to this point in the year and currently are solidly in third place in the West.
And though a lot could change between now and the end of the season, given that Houston is three games behind the Spurs for second, while holding a decent 3.5-game lead over the fourth place Clippers, it wouldn’t be a surprise at all to see them stand pat at third place for the remainder of the season.
If that ends up being the case, then the Jazz would have to fall to sixth in order to play the Rockets in the first round. While this might not sound ideal given that Utah would find themselves playing against a higher seed than in the probable four/five match-ups that I described earlier, this is actually a scenario that I like quite a bit.
Of course missing out on home court advantage in the first round would be a shame (unless by some miraculous twist of fate the Jazz finish third and the Rockets fall to sixth, but don’t count on it), but I actually think Utah matches up better against Houston than the other four teams I’ve brought up so far.
The 2016-17 season series is currently knotted at one apiece between these two teams, so the contest in Houston on March 8th could end up being very telling. Nevertheless, given Utah’s ability to slow down the game and take the Rockets out of their groove because of their style of play, I like Utah’s chances in this match-up.
Furthermore, while Houston is known as a solid scoring team, they’re by no means reputed as a defensive force. Therefore, the Jazz offense would very likely be able to thrive while relying on their staunch defense to cause problems for the Rockets throughout the series, much like what occurred in Utah’s commanding 120-101 victory over Houston earlier in the year.
Also, Houston leads the league in three-point attempts by a significant margin, shooting 39.5 per game, which is over six more than the second place Warriors. However, Houston isn’t necessarily a spectacular three-point shooting team as they rank tenth in the league and interestingly enough, the Jazz just so happen to lead the league in limiting opponents to the fewest three-point attempts and makes per game.
Thus in this area, Utah matches up extremely well against the Rockets’ perimeter-heavy offense and particularly in postseason play when the game seems to slow down and rely more on half-court execution, I could see the Jazz very well upsetting the third-seeded Rockets in a best-of-seven series.
The other good thing about falling to sixth place and finding themselves in this match-up is that it would allow Utah to be in the bracket in such a way that they would avoid playing Golden State until the Western Conference Finals.
Of course, I’m probably getting ahead of myself by even considering that as a positive aspect of the match-up given that Utah would likely have to get through the Spurs in the second round in order to advance anyway, but you never know what might happen in the playoffs and I don’t think it can be argued that it’d be best to stave off a contest against the Warriors for as long as possible.
Therefore, while Houston is undoubtedly having a great season and the Jazz would most likely have to drop to the sixth seed to have to play them in the first round, this is actually the match-up that I believe fits Utah the best and would give them the best chance to advance.
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Nevertheless, as the title of this piece indicates, this truly is a way-too-early look at the potential playoff picture. There’s plenty of regular season basketball left to be played and a lot of unknowns and surprises that could take place between now and the end of the season.
Not to mention, the Jazz still have a lot of work to do for even one of the supposedly favorable match-ups to end up turning out well for them. But based on what the Jazz and their Western Conference foes have shown us so far, I believe their best options in the first round will be to face either the Thunder or the Rockets.
That isn’t to say they’d definitely defeat either of those two opponents or that they couldn’t beat one of the aforementioned three, but it’s more than likely the best shot they’d have.
Yet at the end of the day, the Jazz can’t worry about match-up scenarios and will need to simply control what they can by winning as many games as possible. Regardless of who they face in that first round of the playoffs, they’ll need to come in fully prepared and no matter what will be in for a challenging yet exciting task as they look to push their way into the second round.