Prediction – Jazz 103, Pelicans 101
I’m a bit nervous for this contest for a couple of reasons. First, the Jazz simply were not impressive at all last week. Setting the win over the dismal Nets aside, losing to the Thunder and Wolves, then squeaking past a struggling Kings team was not a good look for Utah.
Also, as I mentioned before, they’ve truly had a hard time returning to their home court and taking care of business after being on the road. Thus, with so many struggles of late, it’s becoming hard to predict what Jazz team is going to come out and take the floor on any given night.
Tough game but BIG win tonight... #takefnnote #ontothenextone
— Rudy Gobert (@rudygobert27) March 6, 2017
On the other hand, the Jazz handily defeated the Pelicans the last time around and truly appear to have a favorable match-up against them. Sure, the front line of Cousins and Davis is daunting, but they’ve struggled to coexist so far. And outside of those two, the Pelicans don’t really have that many other reliable weapons aside from perhaps Jrue Holiday, and definitely don’t have much depth off the bench to worry about.
Therefore, while this game truly could go either way, I’m going to pin this one as a hard-fought, neck-and-neck bout, much like we saw last night, but with the Jazz pulling it off at the end and winning 103 to 101.
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This game is an important one because it’s Utah’s final game before their schedule takes an almost unbearable turn for the worst. Following this home bout against the Pelicans, Utah will visit Houston and Oklahoma City, host the LA Clippers, then turn around to go on a four-game Eastern Conference road trip against the Pistons, Cavs, Bulls and Pacers.
That’s a stretch of seven games that, particularly given Utah’s woes against playoff-caliber teams, could end up being season defining. With such being the case, it’s important that the Jazz give themselves as much cushion as possible for that slate by taking care of business against a very beatable New Orleans team tonight.
All stats courtesy of NBA.com