11/25 Utah vs. Milwaukee
7:00 pm MT – AT&T SportsNet/League Pass
Opponent record: 8-7
Season series: Tied 0-0
The Milwaukee Bucks started out the season looking like a true force to be reckoned with and one that I personally thought could be a dark-horse candidate for a top-three seed in the Eastern Conference. Perhaps that will still end up being the case later down the road, but for now, there’s no questioning that the Bucks have faltered considerably. They now find themselves at 8-7, good for seventh in the Eastern Conference by an extremely narrow margin.
And their most recent loss was one of the most surprising and head-scratching of the season as they fell to the abysmal Dallas Mavericks on Saturday night by a score of 111-79. Milwaukee had been playing extremely well with newly acquired Eric Bledsoe but simply couldn’t get it going last night and the Mavs couldn’t miss as the contest quickly turned into a catastrophe for the Bucks.
ICYMI: We've tied our franchise record for 3s made in a regular season game with 19 in our 111-79 win against the Bucks! #MFFL pic.twitter.com/vs6xm8H060
— Dallas Mavericks (@dallasmavs) November 19, 2017
Therefore, to say that they’re a bit of a mixed bag would be right on point. They’ve pulled out some impressive wins over some top talent, but they’ve also dropped some games that one would clearly expect them to win. In my mind, their game against the Jazz is one such game, so hopefully their backwards trend will continue and Utah will be able to come out on top.
Unfortunately, with a superstar like Giannis Antetokounmpo in their ranks and considering Utah’s struggles overall of late, I have a hard time confidently pinning the Jazz as winners in this one. Since acquiring Bledsoe, the Bucks have defeated the San Antonio Spurs, Los Angeles Lakers, Memphis Grizzlies and Detroit Pistons. Therefore, I’m more prone to believe that the loss to the Mavs was little more than a fluke.
With that being the case, the Jazz are going to be in for a tough one to close out the week, and even though the game will be played in Salt Lake City, I’m expecting the Greek Freak and Co. to arise victorious.
My Prediction: Bucks Win
Final Score: Milwaukee 103, Utah 97
Next: Utah Jazz vs Orlando Magic reaction: Jazz get first road win in style
The fact remains though that, although perhaps it was just a fluke, Utah looked extremely solid against the Orlando Magic on Saturday. By no means do I expect them to make a habit of putting up 40-point wins (although wouldn’t that be nice), but I truly believe that victory could be a turning point where things start to come together for Quin Snyder and his team.
Therefore, it isn’t out of the realm of possibilities that the Jazz exceed my 2-1 prediction and go a perfect 3-0 for the week, putting them squarely back at .500. After all, the game against the Milwaukee Bucks, the lone loss that I predicted, is at home against an erratic opponent. Not only that, but Utah played exceptionally well against Milwaukee in both contests last season and perhaps there are some tactics that can be replicated.
However, on the flip side of things, if the Jazz revert to the way they have played for much of the past two weeks, then they could find themselves logging yet another week with a losing record. The daunting month of December is looming and if the Jazz are to have any hope of keeping their head above water, they’ll need to do everything in their power to ensure that such doesn’t end up being the case.
It should be an extremely exciting and eye-opening week where the Jazz can prove what they’re truly made of and whether or not much hope exists for the season moving forward.