The Utah Jazz’s home stand will come to a conclusion this week and they’ll head out on a four-game road trip during the tough stretch ahead.
Well, to say that the Utah Jazz’s fifth week of the 2017-18 NBA season didn’t go exactly as planned would be a dramatic understatement. Not only did they struggle to a 1-2 record during a stretch where many presumed they would and should take advantage of a nice home stand against lackluster opponents, but they also received unfortunate news following the win over the Brooklyn Nets – Rudy Gobert (who didn’t play in that game) will be out for four to six weeks due to a bone bruise which he suffered in Friday’s loss to the Miami Heat.
His injury was caused by a rather controversial play in which Dion Waiters appeared to change directions from pursuing a loose ball to launching himself at Rudy Gobert’s legs. I’ve included a clip of the play below so you can take a look and be the judge on whether it was a dirty play or not:
If you think this is good, clean hustle, there's a bridge in Miami I'd like to sell you... pic.twitter.com/rfLR8zTRPc
— Andy Bailey (@AndrewDBailey) November 12, 2017
That aside, a discouraging week which saw the Jazz fall in disappointing fashion to two mediocre teams in the Philadelphia 76ers and Miami Heat then scrape out a close call over the Brooklyn Nets has brought their record on the season to 6-7. Not that it’s much of a praiseworthy accomplishment, but I correctly predicted Utah’s loss to Miami and win over Brooklyn while overestimating them against Philly, so I was able to best the Jazz on the week by going 2-1, raising my season projection record to a slightly better 7-6.
Even though the Jazz were able to come away victorious against the Nets without Rudy Gobert as they kept Donovan Mitchell in the starting lineup (a move they initially made against Miami), slid Derrick Favors to Gobert’s former center spot and inserted Thabo Sefolosha in as the starting power forward, there’s no questioning that they’ll be in for a tough road ahead without their star center.
That’s especially the case considering the number of quality big men Utah will face in this week’s slate as you can see spelled out in the tweet below from Tony Jones of the Salt Lake Tribune:
Opposing bigs the Jazz will face this week: Karl-Anthony Towns, Kristaps Porzingis, Enes Kanter, Nikola Vucevic, Joel Embiid....all without Rudy Gobert
— Eric Walden (@tribjazz) November 12, 2017
Utah will start off Week 5 on Monday in their final game of the home stand as they host the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Wolves got the best of the Jazz in the two teams’ last meeting, and despite Minnesota’s recent pair of losses to the Golden State Warriors and Phoenix Suns, they’re still playing well on the season with a 7-5 record.
Next Utah will hit the road to commence a four-game Eastern Conference trip that will begin against the New York Knicks on Wednesday, then they’ll head to Brooklyn for a rematch against the Nets on Friday and finally will end the week by taking on the Orlando Magic on Saturday. All three of those teams have exceeded expectations so far on this young season and none will be anywhere close to an easy victory for the Jazz.
With that being the case, let’s take a look at what we can expect for the seven-day stretch ahead that’s facing the Utah Jazz.