The Utah Jazz’s daunting stretch of games against playoff-caliber opponents continues with four tough games in Week 21 of NBA action.
Despite a less than favorable ending, last week was pretty monumental for the Utah Jazz. Not only were they able to knock off the third-place Houston Rockets on the road despite being shorthanded, but by doing so they also surpassed their win total from a season ago by logging win number 41.
41 wins was the magic number to make the playoffs in the West last season, so in case there was any further need of reassurance, Utah’s already near guarantee of qualifying for the postseason is looking better and better.
Hard fought WIN in Houston!#UTAatHOU pic.twitter.com/UsbTQ3fARj
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) March 9, 2017
Of course with both Rudy Gobert and Derrick Favors sidelined for Saturday’s contest against Oklahoma City, the loss they suffered in that game wasn’t all that unexpected even if it was quite disappointing. The loss caused Utah to fall to 1-3 against the Thunder this season, dropping their record against the current fifth through seventh seeds in the West to just 2-8. That’s certainly a record that doesn’t bode well for Utah’s first round playoff hopes.
Nevertheless, as I mentioned the Jazz’s performances last week were still good enough to bring them to 41 wins while allowing them to keep hold of the fourth seed with a 41-25 record on the year. They actually ended up finishing just as I predicted last week, by defeating the Pelicans and Rockets but losing to the Thunder. Therefore, while the Jazz went 2-1, I managed to go a perfect 3-0 to raise my season prediction record to 43-23.
So all things considered, it was a good week for the Jazz, but they’re in for a tall task in Week 21 of NBA action as they’ll take on four consecutive tough opponents. They begin at home on Monday against the Los Angeles Clippers who have seemingly had the Jazz’s number time and time again in recent seasons.
This game will be absolutely vital for the Jazz given that the Clippers are currently just one game behind the Jazz in the standings, so whoever wins the contest will find themselves in fourth place at the end of the night.
Then Utah will kick off a four-game Eastern Conference road trip with three of the games coming this week. First they’ll visit Detroit on Wednesday, then turn around and take on the defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers in the second night of a back-to-back. From there, they’ll finish up the week on Saturday at Chicago.
When the Jazz started this current tough seven-game stretch Chicago was a playoff team, but given their recent struggles that have seen them lose four straight games, the Bulls now find themselves out of the mix at tenth place in the East behind the surging Miami Heat and Milwaukee Bucks.
Chicago is still firmly in the playoff race, however, so while they’re not technically a playoff team anymore for the time being, that contest certainly won’t be an easy win either. Therefore, with four tough opponents slated for the 21st week of NBA action, Utah will be hard-pressed to notch a record above .500 given the difficulty of the following match-ups.