Utah Jazz 2017-18 Week Six Outlook, Predictions

The Utah Jazz ended an overall disappointing week five on an extremely positive note. How will that translate over to their sixth week of action?

Well, this last week of Utah Jazz action was eye-opening, and not necessarily in the most positive way. The Jazz began the week with a blowout loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, then set out on three games of a four-game road trip, desperately searching for their first road win.

The first such contest against the New York Knicks appeared as if it would be a likely candidate, especially as Utah held a double digit lead in the second half. Unfortunately, a fourth quarter collapse would ultimately sink the Jazz as they would go on to lose yet another game in discouraging fashion which was also their sixth loss in seventh games.

As bad as that was, it still didn’t seem quite like the time to reach panic mode. After all, the Knicks have been a much-improved team this season and aside from some frustrating mental errors down the stretch, the Jazz really did play well for the majority of the game. Plus, we all figured that Utah could earn their first road win against a hapless Brooklyn Nets team in the next game, right?

Wrong.

It was without a doubt partially because of injuries as Utah was not only without the already injured Dante Exum, Rudy Gobert and Joe Johnson, but it also turned out that both Ricky Rubio and Thabo Sefolosha would sit out of the contest – an occurrence that caused KSL’s Andy Larsen to accurately joke about the Jazz’s “All-Injured Lineup”.

Still, one would have expected some ounce of competitiveness against the Nets who are missing their leading scorer D’Angelo Russell as well. But, no such luck. Utah fell flat on their face as they were absolutely battered by the Nets. After this atrocious loss and with injuries reaching the season’s peak, the #TankNoters were out in droves, calling for the Jazz to simply declare this a lost season.

Then, Saturday night happened.

Who knows where it came from, as Saturday’s contest against an Orlando Magic team that started out the season red-hot was one that I had pinned as almost a sure loss for the Jazz, but Utah came out focused on both ends of the court and firing on all cylinders as they knocked the Magic into next week with a 125-85 beat-down. It was Utah’s first 40-point road victory since 1985, which is something this 2017-18 Jazz team had seemed incapable of doing until last night.

Thus, the win over the Magic somewhat helps to dull the 1-3 record the Jazz posted in week five, but more than that, hopefully it will give Utah some momentum and confidence going into a week six that features three very winnable games. I had pinned the Jazz to go 2-2 last week, and the only game I correctly identified was the loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Therefore, I went 1-3 as well, raising my predictions record to 8-9, only slightly better than Utah’s 7-10 mark.

However, even though Utah’s 7-10 record isn’t all that impressive and has them currently at tenth in the Western Conference, several teams in this early-going have struggled to find their way and the Jazz are one hot winning streak away from getting right back in the thick of things. As I mentioned earlier, with three games ahead that seem conducive to such a streak, if Utah can take even a semblance of their performance against Orlando into week six, they may find themselves back at .500 quicker than any Jazz fans might have imagined just a couple days back.

11/20 Utah at Philadelphia

5:00 pm MT – AT&T SportsNet/League Pass

Opponent record: 8-7

Season series: 76ers lead 1-0

The last time the Utah Jazz and Philadelphia 76ers faced off, it ended up being one of Utah’s most disappointing games of the season. Despite playing on their home court, the Jazz looked absolutely flat-footed and lifeless as they fell by a score of 104-97 to the Sixers. However, the game wasn’t nearly as close as the final score indicated as Utah trailed by double figures for much of the contest.

The loss was even more surprising considering that Rudy Gobert was still in action for the Jazz and Sixers star Joel Embiid sat out. Ben Simmons actually had a forgettable shooting night, but it was Dario Saric who feasted on the Jazz with 25 points and five made threes. He, along with several of his teammates, were seemingly left open for three-pointer after three-pointer as the Sixers scorched the nets to finish 44.4 percent from deep.

But, like so many NBA teams in both conferences so far this season, the Sixers have been a tough team to figure out. They’ve had their hot streaks and slumps where at times they’ve looked on the cusp of being elite whereas at other times they’ve looked downright mediocre. Perhaps no game is a better example of this than last night’s loss to the Golden State Warriors.

The Sixers got off to an unbelievable start which saw them put up 47 points in the first quarter against the defending champion Warriors and take a 22-point lead into halftime. They were in complete and total control of the game. However, then Philly went on to have a third quarter collapse which saw the relentless Warriors bounce back and log an astounding 47-15 quarter to eventually go on to win by eight.

The 76ers’ inconsistency as they go through some understandable growing pains with their young team will likely be their biggest obstacle throughout the season. And with such being the case, I’m feeling optimistic that the Jazz will be able to catch them on one of their down-swings on Monday. Utah will go into tomorrow’s contest with confidence after a big win whereas the Sixers will likely be feeling soul-crushed from their disappointing loss to the Warriors.

If both teams replicate their most recent performances, the Jazz should come away with a big win. I don’t quite believe that will be the case, but I think that Utah’s win over Orlando proved that Quin Snyder is slowly but surely figuring out the best way to utilize his players, organize his rotations and get the most out of his team.

With that being so, I’m going to go out on a limb and pick the Jazz as narrow winners in this contest as they’ll take what they’ve learned on the road trip so far to get revenge over the Sixers and close the four-game stint out with a W.

My Prediction: Jazz Win

Final Score: Utah 97, Philadelphia 94

11/22 Utah vs. Chicago

7:00 pm MT – AT&T SportsNet/League Pass

Opponent record: 3-10

Season series: Tied 0-0

The Chicago Bulls have been one of the league’s true trash teams so far this year, to put it bluntly. Although some teams have had highs and lows and at least shown some reason for optimism, the Bulls have been pretty much consistently bad. Their only wins on the season have come against the equally terrible Atlanta Hawks, a surprise blow-out win over the apparently inconsistent Orlando Magic and a scrape-by victory over the Charlotte Hornets.

Beyond that, it’s been largely blowout after blowout for the Bulls, which hardly comes as much of a surprise given their roster makeup and the tumultuous state of the front office. As much as the Jazz – losers of seven of their last nine contests and without their most important player in Rudy Gobert – have struggled, I simply don’t see a scenario where they are outmatched by this bad Chicago team, especially at home.

Although Utah only just earned their first road win on Saturday, they still have looked good at home for the most part and boast a positive 6-4 record at Vivint Smart Home Arena. Not only that, but Chicago will be coming into this game on the second night of a back-to-back whereas Utah will come in on a day of rest after completing a road trip.

It worries me somewhat that the Jazz tended to play poorly at home on the first night after a long road slate, but I still have a hard time seeing them come out sluggish enough to lose to such a disappointing Chicago team. Therefore, I’m feeling quite confident in my prediction of pinning the Jazz as victors in the second game of the week.

My Prediction: Jazz Win

Final Score: Utah 107, Chicago 92

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.

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.