Utah Jazz 2017-18 Week Seven Outlook, Predictions

12/1 Utah vs. New Orleans

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

Opponent record: 11-9

Season series: Tied 0-0

The New Orleans Pelicans have gotten off to a pretty solid start and will likely be one of many teams jockeying with the Utah Jazz for a playoff spot or playoff positioning all season long, which makes Friday’s bout all the more important.

The DeMarcus Cousins and Anthony Davis experiment is starting to look more and more like it can work as both players are putting up exceptional stats (26.1 points and 12.9 rebounds for Boogie and 25.7 points and 11.1 rebounds for the Brow on red-hot shooting) and the Pels have won three of their last four including big-time wins over the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder.

Historically, the Jazz have fared well against both of those players, but as the two become more accustomed to one another as teammates and with no Rudy Gobert in the mix for Utah, this could be an enormous challenge. Not only that, but the Jazz will come into this game on the wrong end of a back-to-back after playing a late game in LA the night before against the Clippers.

I’m inclined to think that the Utah Jazz will have a very good shot of winning this contest considering how well they’ve played on their home court and due to how well they’ve matched up against the New Orleans Pelicans of late. However, because of New Orleans’ improvements, momentum from recent big wins and the fact that Utah will likely come in fatigued, I’m actually going to give the Pelicans the edge in this one.

There’s no questioning that New Orleans has a formidable frontcourt and without Rudy Gobert available, the Jazz could have a very hard time containing them in this contest. I like Derrick Favors’ chances against either Anthony Davis or DeMarcus Cousins, but there’s no way he can take both and the Jazz have very little big man options off the bench that can provide adequate backup.

My Prediction: Pelicans Win

Final Score: New Orleans 112, Utah 98

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Therefore, I’m once again pinning the Utah Jazz to go 2-1 on the week. Obviously, 3-0 would be a better mark (and it’s one that I believe to be quite attainable despite not predicting as much), but if Utah can keep having weeks where they go even slightly above .500, they’ll find themselves crawling up the standings quite quickly, especially in a Western Conference that has been rather lackluster compared to its illustrious expectations.

The Jazz got off to a bit of a slow start last year and dealt with several injuries, but Quin Snyder and Co. were still able to get things turned around and find significant success. While I don’t know if this team will be capable of reaching such great heights, there’s no questioning that they’ve already started to show some signs of righting the ship and I’m confident that Coach Snyder truly can find a way to help them continue to get better.

Building off what they’ve done and finding success in a relatively comfortable Week Seven could be just the springboard this team needs to continue its rise up the standings throughout the remainder of the season.