Can the Jazz Steal a Game From LA on the Road?
It goes without saying, given that there will be only three games played in Utah in this series, but the Jazz will have to steal at least one game in LA if they hope to advance to the second round. The Jazz had a relatively solid road record of 22-19, but unfortunately dropped both games to the Clippers on the road.
The Jazz were able to earn a rare road win over the Clippers last season in the first contest of the series, but before that, they hadn’t won against the Clips in the Staples Center since December 29, 2010.
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In other words, taking on the Clippers on their home court hasn’t been kind to the Jazz in recent seasons. Given that Utah forfeited home court advantage by losing the tiebreaker to LA, they’ll have to find a way to reverse that trend and play well on the road. Many of these guys have never faced a playoff crowd in their life, so it’s going to be quite a task for them to go into a hostile building and come away with a win.
Hopefully the Jazz are able to steal one of these first couple games, then defend home court, because winning more than one game in LA will likely be a tall task. The Jazz benefit from an awesome home crowd and tend to play with great energy in Vivint Smart Home Arena, but seeing whether they can bring that intensity on the road or not will be an intriguing aspect of this series.
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The Utah Jazz have the talent to match wits with and potentially beat the Clippers, however, there’s no doubting that there’s several questions facing this team. With so many injuries hampering them throughout the season, it’s easy to feel like we’ve never even truly seen this team at its best.
However, that fact also makes it plausible that inconsistencies and lack of cohesion could arise across both the starters and reserve unit. Yet, the Jazz have been resilient to the many obstacles they’ve faced all season long and if they can get these aforementioned questions sorted out in a way that is favorable to them, they should be in a great spot to come away with their first playoff win since 2010.
All stats courtesy of NBA.com