Utah Jazz Week Twenty-Two Outlook, Predictions

3/25 Utah at Los Angeles Clippers

1:30 pm MT – Root Sports/League Pass

Opponent record: 41-29

Season series: Clippers lead 2-1

Not only did the Jazz appear to fluster the Clippers in their victory last week as evidenced by the pair of scuffles that broke out on the court, but the loss seemed to have a ripple effect as from there LA dropped two more games to fall to three games behind the Jazz in the standings.

Coming into Saturday’s slate of games, it appeared that Utah would be in great shape to elevate that lead even further as the Clippers were set to have the daunting task of taking on the defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers.

However, as luck would have it, the Cavs opted to rest each of their stars in LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love and the Clippers came away with a blowout win while the Jazz laid an absolute egg in Chicago, allowing LA to pull within two games of the four-spot.

On a side note, the ABC broadcasters had some interesting things to say about Cleveland resting its key guys and for the most part I happen to agree. If you’re interested in reading what they had to say, go ahead and visit the link here.

But getting back to the point, once again this bout against the Clippers could very well turn out to be a battle for the fourth seed. Depending on how both teams fare in the games leading up to this point, the winner of the contest could potentially end the night in that four-spot, just as the case was last week.

Utah was able to defeat the Clippers in impressive fashion thanks largely to an incredible second half which included a 40-point third quarter and a stretch of nine straight made threes to go 11-of-13 from deep in the final two quarters.

However, the Jazz had looked awful against LA in the previous 10 quarters this season and nearly let them back in it at the end of last game. Despite that win, I’m still far from convinced that Utah can match up well with the Clips and to say I’m feeling worried about this upcoming contest would be a severe understatement.

Given that both teams will be coming in off of at least one day of rest (the Jazz will have two days off prior to the contest), it should be a relatively even fight in that regard.

And while I’d love to say that the Jazz will thus be able to match their impressive performance from the last meeting between these two foes, given that Utah is just 3-17 against the Clippers in their last 20 tries and have struggled all season long against competent Western Conference foes, I’m going to pick LA as the winners of this contest.

Of course if Utah hopes to keep a hold of the four seed, it’s very likely that they’ll need to prove me wrong. If they can find the kind of rhythm both offensively and defensively that they had against the Clippers in the second half last Monday, it’s very possible that they’ll do just that.

Otherwise, Utah may find themselves struggling like they did in the first two contests against LA where they failed to put up more than 75 points both times. I’m not expecting that poor of a showing, but I still have the bad feeling that the Jazz are going to find themselves on the losing end of Saturday’s contest.

My Prediction: Clippers Win

Final Score: Los Angeles 104, Utah 96

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So after a disappointing Week 21 that has seen the Jazz go just 1-2 on their current road trip so far, they’ll have their work cut out for them if they hope to bounce back in Week 22. While each of these games is certainly winnable, each also has a bit of a frightening undertone to it.

The Pacers are exceptional at home, the Knicks game will be the first home game after a long road-trip which has been a tough situation for Utah this season and the Clippers, well, let’s just say, setting last week’s game to one side, they’ve had their way with the Jazz recently.

Nevertheless, the end of the regular season is rapidly approaching and Utah’s ability or inability to grab the fourth seed and home court advantage in the first round could very well determine whether or not they make it to the second round of the playoffs.

Therefore, despite the challenges awaiting them in this week’s three-game slate, Utah will need to dig deep and find a way to at least match my projection of a 2-1 record for the week.

Because if they don’t, they will essentially be leaving the fourth seed wide open for the taking.

All stats courtesy of NBA.com