The J-Notes
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Five Biggest Concerns Facing the Utah Jazz Ahead of the Playoffs

By Jared Woodcox

Mar 8, 2017; Houston, TX, USA; Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert (27) stretches out prior to the game against the Houston Rockets at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Erik Williams-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 8, 2017; Houston, TX, USA; Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert (27) stretches out prior to the game against the Houston Rockets at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Erik Williams-USA TODAY Sports /
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Mar 11, 2017; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook (0) drives to the basket in front of Utah Jazz forward Trey Lyles (41) during the first quarter at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 11, 2017; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook (0) drives to the basket in front of Utah Jazz forward Trey Lyles (41) during the first quarter at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports /

Match-Up

As I alluded to earlier in this piece, the Jazz have struggled against many of their Western Conference playoff foes and therefore one major concern will be how they match-up against whichever team it is that they end up playing in the first round.

Utah is just 1-2 against the Clippers with the final game coming up on Saturday, 1-3 against OKC and 1-3 against Memphis. That’s discouraging given that it’s quite likely that one of those three teams will be Utah’s first-round playoff foe.

There is a chance that they end up playing against one of the current top three seeds as well, which aside from their 0-2 record against the Warriors, Utah actually has fared better against so far this season. They are 1-1 against San Antonio with two contests remaining and 2-1 against Houston.

Yet while you could say that some of Utah’s previously mentioned losses were due to injury or scheduling issues, the fact of the matter is that the Jazz’s common inability to step up against upper-echelon teams when the stakes have been highest is more than a little bit alarming.

It’s hard to pick which match-up would be the most favorable for the Jazz as they have shown struggles in each of them and of course the point that was already touched on about these teams being more experienced will certainly come into play as well.

However, to be quite honest, I think Utah’s 1-3 records against both the Thunder and Grizzlies are pretty misleading as I believe they are capable of competing quite evenly with either of them.

Also, the regular season record obviously doesn’t define what the result will be in the postseason so the Jazz should simply aim to finish out the season strong so that they can earn home court advantage in the first round which will automatically make whichever match-up they end up being in significantly more favorable.

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