Week 20 of NBA action signifies not only an approach to the end of the regular season, but for the Utah Jazz it also marks the start of a daunting and perhaps defining stretch of games.
It’s hard to believe how rapidly the 2016-17 NBA regular season is coming to a close. However, with just six weeks left, including this one, I have a feeling that this final stretch will be as thrilling as ever as every team looks to make as much of a push as possible towards the postseason.
That fact should be no different for the Utah Jazz as the twentieth week of NBA action will see them begin a stretch that could very well make or break their pursuit for home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. They begin the week tonight as they’ll host the New Orleans Pelicans, who despite not being a playoff team at the moment, possess a daunting and dangerous front line of Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins.
After that, it will be two straight road contests against the red hot Houston Rockets and division rival Oklahoma City Thunder. Both of those games will be important for the Jazz as they look to break out of their slump against Western Conference playoff foes, prove themselves as a legitimate threat in the West and boost their chances of grabbing the fourth seed.
Those two games kick-off a seven-game stretch for the Jazz against playoff-caliber teams, six of which will come on the road. Houston has been a daunting opponent this year and Utah has struggled to keep up with Russell Westbrook and the Thunder, thus there’s no questioning that it’s going to be a struggle for Utah to have a good week and get that seven-game stretch started out right.
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Without a doubt, Utah will have to play much better this week than last week. Following two disappointing losses and a miracle win over the Kings, the Jazz went just 2-2 to bring their record on the season to 39-24. I was apparently over-optimistic last week, pinning the Jazz to go 4-0, thus I went 2-2 as well, keeping my prediction record just one game ahead of the Jazz at 40-23.
However, to be quite honest, I’m not sure what to expect to happen with either my record or the Jazz’s record in this upcoming week. Given the caliber of teams Utah will face and their inconsistent play of late, I feel they’re about as likely to go 0-3 as they are to go 3-0.
This will be an extremely important three-game slate for the Jazz that will provide them with an opportunity to make quite the statement. So while it’s hard to predict exactly how they’ll fare, here’s a look at the match-ups that lie ahead in what’s bound to be a thrilling 20th week of NBA action.