Utah Jazz at Oklahoma City Thunder: Keys to the Game

Prediction – Jazz 97, Thunder 92

In all honesty, I expect this one to be a thriller. The Jazz are clicking very well right now and are finally able to play their intended starting lineup of Hill, Hood, Hayward, Favors and Gobert. When Utah rolls out that starting five, they’re currently 10-1 on the season.

That’s both a testament to how formidable a healthy Jazz squad could be as well as a sad reality of how banged up Utah has been this year.

However, while this game will likely have a playoff feel to it with both teams very familiar with one another as divisional foes and both battling for playoff positioning, I’m pinning the Jazz to come away with a narrow five-point victory just as I did in my week preview piece from last night.

Yes, the last time these two teams faced off, Westbrook had a monstrous performance and the Jazz struggled to find their shot, but as I’ve touched on, they also were quite fatigued (and justifiably so) while the Thunder were coming in with a rare four days of rest. That will be far from the case for either team tomorrow, so I expect a more prepared and energized Jazz team.

Not to mention, particularly now with Utah being fully healthy, they can roll out an impressive amount of depth. Perhaps one of the best aspects of Utah finally starting their intended starting lineup is that their reserve unit is taking shape and becoming the formidable bench that the Jazz were projected to have this season.

Even with all that being the case, the Jazz will still need to play exceptionally well if they hope to win. But given how they’ve looked in the two recent contests against the Bucks and Wizards, I expect them to close out the three-game road trip strong with a key victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder.

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If the Jazz are able to do so, it will likely be their biggest and most important win in over two months. As Utah prepares to not only make a big run down the season’s final stretch, but also to make some noise in the playoffs, this will be a crucial game both in terms of their spot in the standings and in building the necessary confidence moving forward.

After tomorrow’s game, the Jazz will play three very winnable games before heading into a daunting stretch against several playoff teams. Therefore it would be very beneficial for them to take advantage tomorrow night of a Thunder team that is undoubtedly good, but that the Jazz are more than capable of defeating.

All stats courtesy of NBA.com