The Utah Jazz had a much needed, bounce-back win over the struggling Brooklyn Nets on Friday night. In doing so, they created some space ahead of their Western Conference foes.
For the Utah Jazz Friday’s win over the Brooklyn Nets was a huge load off the minds of the players and fans after a rather disappointing loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Not only was Utah’s win over their old friend Trevor Booker and the Nets a huge confidence booster, the great night also came with a helping hand from the Milwaukee Bucks, Dallas Mavericks and Phoenix Suns, who defeated the LA Clippers, Memphis Grizzlies and Oklahoma City Thunder, respectively.
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The three victors were all outsiders and unexpected winners over teams that the Jazz are battling with for the fourth seed out west. On the following night, the Clippers had a comeback win over the Chicago Bulls and the Houston Rockets knocked off Memphis at the Toyota Center. The Western Conference standings now reads as follows (seeds four through seven as of 3/3/17); Utah Jazz (38-24), LA Clippers (37-25), Memphis Grizzlies (36-27) followed by the OKC Thunder (35-27).
The Jazz now stand one game clear of the Clips, two-and-a-half games clear of the Grizz and three games clear of the Thunder. In layman’s terms, the Jazz’s win on Friday came at a huge price for other teams fighting over the fourth seed.
Unfortunately for the Jazz, maintaining home court advantage for the remainder of the season is far more difficult than what meets the eye. After the next two games which come against the Sacramento Kings and the New Orleans Pelicans, the Jazz will play eight of their next nine against teams currently in playoff positions.
Of those eight games, seven are on the road. A more difficult stretch at this stage of the season is almost unimaginable. This being said, the Jazz do have two very winnable games before this nightmare begins. It’s an understatement to say Utah must take full advantage of non-playoff teams from here on out if they wish to have their first playoff game on their home turf.
The Jazz have struggled all year to put away bad teams, even at Vivint Smart Home Arena. When they are getting big leads on ordinary opponents, they often let them right back in the game. This has to change right now because there is really no more room for error.
The best case scenario for the Jazz is finishing fourth in the Western Conference, this gives them a good chance to get through their first round match-up and pray that Kevin Durant hasn’t returned for the start of round two. If they can’t claim the fourth spot, their best bet is to finish sixth and play the Houston Rockets who they are more than capable of beating.
Something else that comes into play is keeping Gordon Hayward on board at the season’s end. I assure you that the things he will look at first (after money of course) will be the Jazz’s win total and how deep they can get in the playoffs.
This is in many ways the most important year for the Utah Jazz in over a decade because it can go one of two ways; it could go well and the Jazz make the second round, Hayward stays and the Jazz are a legitimate contender for years to come. Or, unfortunately, the Jazz could also slip to the seventh seed, get demolished by the Spurs in the first round, making Hayward jump ship and send the franchise into complete disarray. Let’s hope for the former over the latter.
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All in all, the Jazz have created some breathing room on their competition and the ball is in their court so to speak. If they keep winning games by putting their heads down and taking the tough schedule one game at a time, they are in good shape to get home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
Schedule and standings courtesy of NBA.com