Utah Jazz at Oklahoma City Thunder: Keys to keep the win streak alive

The Utah Jazz are coming off yet another impressive win as they will put their six-game win streak on the line against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday.

The Utah Jazz just keep on rolling. What was supposed to be a scary month of December has started out really well for the Jazz as they are now 2-0 following Monday’s absolute annihilation of the Washington Wizards by a score of 116-69. Of course, there’s still a lot of basketball left to be played both in this month and in the season as a whole, but Jazz fans have to like where their team is at right now.

The victory over the Wizards was their sixth straight and was the fifth of the last six that was an absolute blowout (the narrow comeback win over New Orleans was obviously the exception). During Utah’s recent win streak, they’ve won by 30 over the Chicago Bulls, 13 over the Milwaukee Bucks, 29 over the Denver Nuggets, 19 over the LA Clippers and now 47 over the Washington Wizards.

And we thought Utah’s offense was going to struggle this season…

But, as we all know, December doesn’t get any easier from here as Utah will be back in action right away on Tuesday as they head out on the road to take on the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Thunder have had their fair share of well-chronicled struggles so far this season as they currently find themselves at 10-12. However, there’s no denying that they have the makings of a powerhouse with their Big 3 of Russell Westbrook, Paul George and Carmelo Anthony, so they can’t be overlooked.

Not only that, but they’ve seemed to slowly but surely be righting the ship as they are coming off two impressive wins over the Minnesota Timberwolves and San Antonio Spurs. Therefore, despite Utah’s incredible success of late and the way that they’ve been able to just steamroll opposing teams, they’re going to need to be well-prepared if they hope to topple a star-studded Thunder squad.

And to do so, it will be absolutely vital that they thrive in the following key areas.

Key #1 – Play with home court energy despite being on the road

This is a key that I’ve mentioned a handful of times before, but it will be extremely critical in Tuesday’s match-up. So far on the season, the Jazz have been absolutely phenomenal at home where they boast a record of 11-4. However, it’s been a different story on the road where they’re just 2-7. The bit of good news is that they’ve won two of their last three road games in commanding fashion, so hopefully they’re ready to turn the corner in this area.

That will be critical to coming away with a win as, like the Jazz, OKC has also been spectacular at home despite some overwhelming road woes. They’re currently 8-3 within Chesapeake Energy Arena but just 2-9 on opposing teams’ courts. In other words, this match-up will be a battle between two teams that are great at home, but have struggled on the road.

With that being the case, the Jazz will have to break their predominant mold in a big way if they hope to come out on top. The energy they’ve had in their recent home wins has been absolutely phenomenal as it helped them jump on the Washington Wizards early (Utah led 29-15 after one quarter) as well as erase a 16-point deficit against the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday.

Therefore, even though they won’t have a raucous home crowd behind them, the Jazz need to come out with high intensity on both ends of the floor, get off to a good start and do everything in their power to keep the Thunder’s momentum down and their incredible fans out of the game as much as possible. OKC has long boasted a reputation as a tough place to play, so it’s little surprise that the Thunder have been so effective there.

Nevertheless, if the Jazz are to prove that they’re truly the real deal as they’ve looked for the better part of the last two weeks, they’ll need to figure out how to win on the road. They’ll have a great opportunity to do just that in their upcoming contest as they’ll look to shock the rapidly improving Thunder on their home court.

Key #2 – Dominate the Paint

Despite OKC’s issues this season, one area where they have absolutely thrived has been in  preventing their opponents from scoring in the paint. In some ways this comes as little surprise as they have a pair of solid perimeter defenders in Paul George and Andre Roberson that are great at staying in front of their man at keeping them away from the rim, and one of the more underrated rim protectors in the league in Steven Adams.

The Thunder are currently second in the league in opponent points in the paint as they give up just 39.8 such points per game. The Jazz aren’t far behind them as they allow just 40, good for fourth in the league. On the other end of the court, both the Thunder and Jazz are almost identical in the number of points in the paint that they put up themselves as OKC is 26th in the league at 40.7 and Utah is 27th in the league at 40.3.

Therefore, given that neither team has been all that great at putting up points in the paint and both have excelled at defending it, whoever can break their usual trend and excel in this area could very well come up with a big win. That’s exactly what Utah did in their previous commanding win over the Thunder as they outscored them down low by a score of 40-20 in terms of points in the paint.

That’s a very significant margin and a clear indicator of how that dominant performance went for the Jazz. With Derrick Favors playing extremely well of late and Rudy Gobert re-entering the rotation on Monday night and having a good first game back, there’s a good chance for the Jazz to do just that. That duo of big men should be well equipped to keep OKC out of the paint while helping to add to Utah’s point total on the other end.

If the Jazz are somehow able to replicate the post scoring that they showed in their earlier win over the Thunder, they could very well earn a second straight win over OKC and a seventh straight overall.

Key #3 – Win the turnover/steal battle

Interestingly enough, the Utah Jazz and Oklahoma City Thunder are atop the league in both steals per game (OKC – 10.5, Utah – 9.6) and points off of turnovers (OKC – 20.2, Utah – 20.0). As you can see from those numbers I just included, OKC has the edge in both categories, but it’s extremely close. Meanwhile, Utah has the edge in turnovers committed per game as they average 14.8 compared to Oklahoma City’s 15.3.

But these numbers clearly tell us that both teams do an exceptional job of forcing turnovers, stealing the ball and turning their opponents’ miscues into easy baskets. The 20 or more points per game that each team is averaging is obviously an enormous part of both of their offenses and if either squad is able to clean that up significantly, it could give them a major advantage in this contest.

The Thunder also happen to have the edge in holding opponents to fewer points off turnovers per game, though, so the Jazz are going to have their work cut out for them if they are to gain an edge in this category. Utah did manage to do just that in their first bout of the season against the Thunder as they put up 24 points off turnovers to OKC’s 16.

If the Jazz are able to continue to move the ball as well as they have without giving the ball away against a team that’s solid at stealing and forcing turnovers, while still imposing their typical will on defense as they have in recent contests, then they’ll have a great chance to overcome a solid OKC team, even on their home court.

BONUS KEY – Shut down Russell Westbrook

I don’t usually provide four keys in these pieces, but the Utah Jazz did such a good job of shutting down Russell Westbrook in the first meeting that this absolutely had to be included. The scary thing about the Thunder is that even if Westbrook is off, they now have both Paul George and Carmelo Anthony to help pick up the slack and make the team as a whole as dangerous as ever. Although each of them has had struggles this season, there’s just no denying that it’s hard to prepare to play against such overwhelming talent.

However, Westbrook is still the leader of this team not only in points per game (22.0), but truly in every physical and emotional aspect of the game. He’s the reigning MVP and the most prolific player on the Thunder roster so, as such, he’s the most important to stop.

And that’s exactly what the Jazz did in their first meeting. Although Westbrook has typically played extremely well against Utah and absolutely punished them in most of the two teams’ meetings, the Jazz were able to have their way with him earlier in the season. The Jazz managed to hold him to his lowest scoring output of the year so far as he finished the game with just six points on a season-worst 2-of-11 (18.2 percent) shooting and 1-of-5 from deep while putting up a season-low plus/minus of -19.

Those numbers are an enormous testament to just how much Utah managed to suffocate Russell Westbrook. Although he has more help around him this year than last, the fact remains that if Westbrook is held in check, then his team tends to be quite stoppable as well.

Prediction – Thunder 107, Jazz 99

I’ll be honest, I’m a lot less comfortable with this prediction than I was on Sunday when I first made it in my preview and outlook piece for the week ahead. The Utah Jazz just put up yet another blowout win over the Washington Wizards, they have Rudy Gobert back and the team simply seems to be firing on all cylinders.

Still, this six-game win streak that has been so impressive simply has to come to an end at some point and given the fact that Utah has struggled mightily on the road while OKC has been so good at home and that the Thunder’s last two wins seem to signify that they’re starting to turn things around, I think that this will finally be the contest that brings the Jazz back to earth.

With that being said, I absolutely believe that the Jazz can win this game and, after seeing what they’ve done the past two weeks, will not even be surprised if they once again prove me wrong and come out on top. The keys I’ve mentioned here are absolutely doable (they accomplished much of what I brought up in their first win against the Thunder) and if they repeat them, then Utah could very well beat the Thunder and earn a seventh straight win.

However, until Utah earns some more convincing wins away from home and proves to me that they truly can bring it regardless of where the game is being played, I’m just not quite confident in pinning them as winners against a star-studded and rapidly improving OKC team. Therefore, I’m picking the Thunder to come out on top in a hard-fought, closely contested battle.

Next: Three-Point Threat Episode 23: Donovan Mitchell, 3 Impressions, Utah Jazz Week 8

For a look at the keys to this game from a Thunder writer’s point of view, be sure to check out this great piece from our friends over at Thunderous Intentions.

After facing the Thunder on Tuesday, the Jazz will return home for a nationally televised bout against the Houston Rockets on Thursday before setting out on a six-game road trip that will begin in Milwaukee on Saturday. That road trip could very well be far from kind to the Jazz, so getting a win in Oklahoma City on Tuesday to raise their record to three games above .500 would go a long way in helping them stay afloat by month’s end.