Utah Jazz: Injuries suck, but they’ll actually help for a change in upcoming stretch

Three of the Utah Jazz’s next four opponents are struggling with significant injury woes and the Jazz need to take advantage.

The Utah Jazz have been so beat up over the past two-plus years that it’s become borderline comical, you know, in a painful sort of way. After a seemingly unending onslaught of injuries last year, the Jazz started out the 2017-18 campaign by losing Dante Exum during preseason, then have had to deal with injuries to a pair of important players in Joe Johnson (wrist) and Rudy Gobert (knee) who are both set to miss significant time.

That hasn’t been fun. Despite a few bright moments, the Jazz have largely struggled of late and that can be highly attributed to those aforementioned injuries. They have set back what may have otherwise been a very exciting and promising start to the season.

However, truly unfortunate though it is, the Jazz are far from the only ones in the league dealing with injury woes this season. And as fate would have it, Utah will actually play a slew of notably wounded teams during what otherwise may have been viewed as a daunting stretch.

In some ways that commenced on Saturday night when Utah hosted the Milwaukee Bucks (in what was one of the most exciting games of the season so far) as the Bucks are and will be without electrifying young forward Jabari Parker until February or so as he battles yet another ACL injury. However, the Bucks started the season and have grown quite accustomed to playing without Parker, so his absence isn’t necessarily all that crushing.

Three of the next four teams Utah will face, though, indeed are dealing with some devastating injuries.

First up, they’ll do battle against the Denver Nuggets at home on Tuesday. The Nugs finally appeared to be getting going this season when they received the unfortunate news that their newly acquired star Paul Millsap had suffered a torn ligament in his left wrist and would have to undergo surgery. Initial reports indicate that Millsap could be out for three months.

This is certainly going to hurt as he had become a key part of their offense as the team’s second leading scorer and has always been a gritty defender. Since losing Millsap in the game against the Los Angeles Lakers, the Nuggets have lost two of their last four games, with their wins coming against a similarly wounded Memphis Grizzlies team and a horrific Sacramento Kings squad.

The Jazz will then visit the LA Clippers on Thursday who have taken an absolute nose-dive after an extremely hot start to the season. The Clippers have lost nine of their last 11 and while there are a lot of issues they’ll need to work out, the biggest contributor to their woes has had to do with an inability to stay healthy.

It was recently announced that Patrick Beverley will be out for the season after undergoing knee surgery. That’s been far from their only injury, though. Milos Teodosic has missed much of the season and appears likely to be sidelined for a considerable time still while the oft-injured Danilo Gallinari is out once again as well.

These set-backs have apparently left the Clippers decimated and although LA handled the Jazz earlier in the year, based on recent outings, this match-up is now looking like it ought to be a cakewalk for the Jazz.

The one exception to Utah’s upcoming stretch comes in the following game where they’ll host the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday. The Pels have been plagued with injuries in recent years, but currently (knock on wood, New Orleans fans) Anthony Davis, DeMarcus Cousins and Jrue Holiday are all healthy and active.

Last of all in Utah’s upcoming four-game stretch, though, they’ll take on yet another squad that is missing a key contributor in the Washington Wizards on Monday, December 4th. Washington is without their second leading scorer and best player in John Wall who will miss at least two weeks with a knee injury.

In their first bout without Wall on Saturday night, Washington underwent an epic collapse which saw them give up a 17-point lead in the fourth quarter to the Portland Trail Blazers. That’s a bad sign for Washington who could be in big trouble during their upcoming stretch.

Without a doubt, be it the Jazz’s injuries or those of their colleagues around the league, it’s always a bummer to see guys go down and get hurt. The NBA is at its best when the best players are able to play producing the most competitive contests possible. Unfortunately, the Jazz haven’t had that luxury for the better part of two years and it’s cost them several wins. Yet for once, although they’re far from healthy either, injuries to their opponents may very well help them find big success in the upcoming stretch.

In the upcoming contests against the Millsap-less Nuggets, decimated Clippers and Wall-less Wizards, it wouldn’t be all that shocking to see the Jazz go 3-0. Considering they’re currently sitting at 9-11 (good for eighth in the West), winning those three games would dramatically bolster their record and put them in a good spot.

I won’t get ahead of myself and set it in stone that Utah will be able to win those games against injury-riddled teams. After all, the Jazz are far from ship-shape themselves. However, Utah has had a resilience in dealing with injuries in recent seasons that their opponents may not be able to match, especially considering that the Millsap and Wall injuries are pretty fresh and those teams are likely still adapting.

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Thus, in other words, while there’s no guarantees in the NBA, those certainly are games that Utah should win. And they definitely need every victory they can get regardless of the circumstances.

I hate to see any players hurt, but let’s hope for once that the devastating injury bug can finally help the Jazz rather than hinder them.