Utah Jazz
Current Record: 38-24
Standings: 1st in Division, 4th in Conference
Just when it appears that things are going unprecedentedly well in Jazz land, the team seems to find a way to break our hearts. After winning three straight games, including an impressive victory over a red hot Washington team, Utah came back to reality in a big way, losing in heartbreaking fashion to the Thunder then in a blowout to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
While there’s no questioning that the loss to Minnesota was discouraging and an embarrassing defeat, it’s interesting to note that last night not only did the Thunder lose to the Suns, but the fifth place Clippers lost to the Milwaukee Bucks and the sixth place Grizzlies lost to the Dallas Mavericks. This should serve as an important reminder to the Jazz team and fans alike that in the NBA, even good teams lose to teams that they shouldn’t every once in a while.
That will do it!!#BKNatUTA #takenote pic.twitter.com/E5Jvk1RS1L
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) March 4, 2017
With the Thunder, Clippers and Grizzlies all losing while the Jazz pulled out a comfortable win over the Nets last night, they were actually able to increase their lead and hold of fourth place. Utah has been battling to earn that fourth place spot all year and it’s encouraging to see them in that position to start out the month of March.
However, as I mentioned earlier in the week, given Utah’s struggles against good teams, they’ll need to be extremely careful if they hope to avoid not only falling out of fourth place, but dropping down the standings altogether to fall to seventh in the conference. The Jazz have a brutal stretch ahead against seven straight playoff teams that could very well determine whether they win the division and keep the fourth seed or not.
Fortunately Utah went a solid 7-4 in February and if they can keep up that pace given the difficult opponents that they face, they could very well stay ahead of their Western Conference foes to lock up their current spot thus earning home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
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It’s great news to see the Jazz where they’re at this late in the season. Nevertheless, there’s no questioning that they’ve had some struggles with some key players such as Rodney Hood, Derrick Favors and Dante Exum. Favors looked much more like his old self in last night’s game against Brooklyn, so hopefully he and the Jazz can figure out a way to get him going more consistently.
If those three players in particularly can snap out of their funks and the rest of the Jazz roster can remain consistent, then the Jazz should very well find themselves atop the division by season’s end.
Utah’s next chance to further their quest for the division championship will be Sunday at 4:00 pm MT as they’ll visit the Sacramento Kings.
All stats courtesy of NBA.com