2/6 Utah at Atlanta
5:30 pm MT – Root Sports/League Pass
Opponent record: 30-21
Season series: Jazz lead 1-0
The last time the Jazz and the Hawks played, Utah was coming into the game losing four of their last five in disappointing fashion and their fate against a then rising Atlanta team was quite uncertain. Nevertheless, the Jazz came out unbelievably hot and ran the Hawks out of the building with an incredible 95-68 win.
The Hawks went on quite a slump around that time, but have since bounced back in impressive fashion to find themselves in possession of fifth place in the East and just a half-game behind the free-falling Raptors for the fourth spot.
Thus as the Jazz will look to defend the fourth seed in the West, the Hawks will have plenty of incentive to try to surge their way up the standings and claim that same positioning in the East. And given that this game will be on Atlanta’s home court, I expect a much tougher game this time around.
All-Star Paul Millsap has continually played well for this team and Dennis Schroder has been surprisingly productive as he is now the team’s second-leading scorer at 17.2 points per game while shooting 45.8 percent from the field.
Congratulations Paul Millsap on his fourth consecutive All-Star appearance.#TrueToAtlanta #atlhawks #nba #AllStar2017 #allstarweekend pic.twitter.com/omiWx7xyyn
— ATB Management Group (@ATBManagement) January 27, 2017
The Hawks also have a lot of talent throughout their second unit so there should be some tightly contested match-ups across the board.
Nevertheless, while Atlanta’s record isn’t much worse than Utah’s, they’ve still had their fair share of ups and downs this season and aren’t the kind of team that is constructed to give the Jazz a lot of fits. As long as they can keep Millsap in check and prevent Dwight Howard from having one of his rare dominant games (which shouldn’t be too hard with Rudy Gobert lurking in the paint), this is a game that I fully expect the Jazz to win.
It will be a hard-fought bout against a Hawks team that is undoubtedly solid, but given Utah’s ability to close games this season and the confidence they should have from the prior blowout win over Atlanta, I’m projecting a narrow win for the Jazz that will come in the final period of play.
My Prediction: Jazz Win
Final Score: Utah 96, Atlanta 91