The Utah Jazz will have their work cut out for them with two important games in the final week of NBA action before the All-Star break.
Week 16 started out with quite a bang for the Utah Jazz. Not only did they come into the four-game slate having won both contests the previous week against the Milwaukee Bucks and Charlotte Hornets, but they also extended that winning streak to four by absolutely annihilating the Atlanta Hawks and New Orleans Pelicans.
Unfortunately, once the Jazz looked to extend that winning streak to five games, things went from bad to worse quite quickly.
First, after continuing their dominant play through three and a half quarters against the Dallas Mavericks to build a 21-point lead, the Jazz took their pedal off the gas and ultimately fell in overtime in a mistake-riddled and disheartening game.
The funk from that contest apparently then carried over with them to the bout against Boston last night as the Jazz looked thoroughly outmatched from the onset, trailing by ten right at the conclusion of the first quarter. The Celtics would lead by as much as 23 and never trail as they fended off a desperate and ultimately hopeless Jazz comeback attempt to win by eight.
Final in SLC.#BOSatUTA pic.twitter.com/r7BjINn5lv
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) February 12, 2017
That 2-2 record for the week moved the Jazz to 34-21. Since I correctly picked the Jazz to lose on Thursday, but drastically overestimated their chances against the Celtics, I finished 3-1, improving my record to 35-20 for the season and surpassing the Jazz’s win record. I’d take it the other way around in a heartbeat, though.
So the Jazz find themselves in a bit of a tough spot heading into Week 17 of NBA action. They’ll play just two games in the final week before the All-Star break, but they’ll be coming in with little to no momentum.
Tough loss tonight against a team that played very good. Let's be ready for Monday. #ontothenextone
— Rudy Gobert (@rudygobert27) February 12, 2017
And that’s not good news considering that Monday’s contest is of extreme importance. The Jazz will host the Los Angeles Clippers who, thanks to Utah’s mini-slump, are now just a half-game away from regaining that fourth place spot. In an earlier article, I mentioned that this game could very well determine whether or not the Jazz are in fourth place by the All-Star break and it looks like that will almost certainly be the case.
After that, Utah will finish off the week against the Portland Trail Blazers who despite finding themselves one game out of playoff contention are still very much a tough out and a team that Utah has struggled against in recent contests.
Therefore, the Jazz won’t have it easy heading into the All-Star break and will need to step it up in a big way if they hope to take momentum into the 10-day respite. Both teams have historically given Utah trouble, so they’ll have to play extremely well to have any chance of going 2-0 this week.