Utah Jazz at Chicago Bulls: Keys to the Game
Prediction – Jazz 97, Bulls 89
Even though the Jazz lost to the Bulls the last time these two squads met, Chicago has definitely lost some of their luster from that point in the season while Utah has undoubtedly improved. And to be perfectly honest, with Dwyane Wade out of commission, there’s really no one outside of Jimmy Butler on this roster that presents more of a problem than what Utah should be able to handle.
I’ve already mentioned the key advantage of Gobert compared to Chicago’s front line, but beyond that Utah is simply better at nearly every starting position and clearly wins the battle of depth.
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Therefore, as long as the Jazz can find their shot better than they did on Thursday against Cleveland and in the last meeting against Chicago, then this is a game that they very well should win. Not to mention, the Bulls are coming in on the second night of a back-to-back after playing at Washington last night, so Utah should very well be able to catch them on tired legs.
With such being the case, in typical Jazz fashion I’m predicting a relatively low-scoring game, but one in which Utah comes out relatively comfortably on top by a score of 97-89.
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The Jazz have had a bad tendency this season to go on a hot streak, then lose a handful of games in a row. With recent wins over playoff-caliber teams such as the Rockets, Clippers and Pistons, they’ve had their bit of a hot streak, so hopefully the most recent loss to Cleveland won’t be the start of a slump.
Utah is in the midst of a four-game road trip and that certainly can take its toll, but barring a majorly disappointing performance on their part or some surprising break-out game from Jimmy Butler or another Bulls player, this is a game that the Jazz should expect to win.
Hopefully such will be the case and rather than fall into a slump as they’ve done on occasions this season, they can just re-initiate yet another hot streak that will help them stay well in control of the fourth seed in the West as they prepare for an easier stretch of games to close out the month after finishing up this current road trip.
All stats courtesy of NBA.com