Utah Jazz: Amidst a handful of concerns, road woes are among most pressing

The Utah Jazz have had their share of issues this year, but struggling on the road could very well be considered one of the most troublesome.

Prior to the Utah Jazz’s current two-game losing streak, it was starting to look like things were about to come together. The Jazz won six in a row and seven of their previous eight right after coming off a stretch of seven losses in eight games. That return to winning ways included multiple blowout victories and Utah’s offense was thriving.

However, since that time, the Jazz have seemingly reverted to some of their old issues as they fell to both the Oklahoma City Thunder and Houston Rockets. Some of those problems have had to do with the return of a recovering Rudy Gobert, issues with spacing and the absence of Rodney Hood. Fortunately, especially with a master mind of a coach in Quin Snyder, I feel like those are all things that the Jazz can fix.

There’s one other area of concern regarding the Utah Jazz that has me even more worried, though, and it’s something that’s been an problem all year long – competing on the road.

The Jazz were the last team in the NBA to win a game away from their home court this season as it didn’t come until a blowout win over the Orlando Magic on November 18th. Just prior to that, the Jazz had a pair of quite winnable games as part of a four-game Eastern Conference road trip, but rather than take advantage they instead fell to the New York Knicks, who came from behind to win, and the Brooklyn Nets in one of Utah’s most dismal performances of the year.

Other disappointing outcomes on the road include losses in Phoenix, LA and Philadelphia where quite frankly it looked like the Jazz forgot to show up, as well as two games that Utah had in the bag but blew in the waning minutes in Minnesota and the recent bout in Oklahoma City. That track record of disappointment after disappointment away from Vivint Smart Home Arena has led the Jazz to a discouraging 2-8 road record.

Some of the road losses have been perfectly justifiable, while others have been downright ugly. On the bright side, the Jazz have actually been quite solid on their home court where they’re 11-5 on the year. However, while there’s an expected discrepancy between how a team plays at home and on the road, the gap in Utah’s performance based on location is very concerning.

They simply haven’t had anywhere near the same energy or execution when they’ve been away from the Viv. And while that’s understandable to an extent, the Jazz absolutely have to figure out a way to reverse that trend, produce their own energy and find a way to jive even without a raucous home crowd behind them to cheer them on and pump them up.

Oddly enough, when looking across Utah’s traditional stats both on the home and on the road, their performances look pretty even. They only score about three less points on the road, their shooting percentages are about even and they’ve actually logged more assists per game on the road than at home.

Their turnovers have been slightly up on the road and their rebounds have been down, which can both be attributed to the energy issues, but neither of these point to exactly what Utah’s problem is. To find that, you have to dig slightly deeper.

The biggest difference between Utah’s play at home and on the road is what they’ve allowed their opponents to do. While the Jazz’s own offensive stats have stayed relatively steady, at home they’re giving up just 95.1 points per game whereas on the road they’re giving up 105.9. That’s nearly an 11-point difference!

Utah’s road vs. home defensive rating tells a similar story. They’re at a sturdy 97.5 at home compared to 107.5 on the road. In short, the numbers don’t lie – Utah just hasn’t brought the same defensive intensity on the road and it has allowed their opponents to thrive while handicapping the Jazz’s energy and drive on both ends of the floor.

This is both good and bad news. Obviously, it’s bad because you would expect Utah’s defense to be able to find a way to translate pretty seamlessly onto opponents’ courts and the fact that it hasn’t is clearly hurting the Jazz. But therein also lies the good news. Utah’s offense has been steady despite road woes and despite concerns coming into the season that the Jazz weren’t going to be able to score much at all.

Offense is typically harder to get going on the road, so although it hasn’t been the case thus far, if Utah can simply build up the necessary discipline and focus to maintain a high level of defense on the road, we could see a major turnaround in their road record, which would of course dramatically improve their overall record as well.

The fact of the matter for now, though, is that playing on the road has not been kind to the Jazz and despite the many other issues that one could point to, road woes have certainly been among the most principal concerns for the Jazz this season. If they’re able to get those sorted out and play an improved and more confident brand of basketball away from their home court, it could be big news for this Utah team.

They’ll have to make those improvements in a hurry as they’re about to face one of the most daunting stretches of the season as they embark on a six-game road trip that begins today in Milwaukee. Utah went just 1-3 on their last road trip that quite frankly was against four very beatable opponents, so they’ll be in for an even scarier stretch as they’ll face the likes of the Milwaukee Bucks, Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers, Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder during the upcoming trip.

Next: Utah Jazz: The starting lineup is in need of tweaking

Talk about being flung into the flames for a team that’s already struggled on the road enough as it is. One of Utah’s biggest weaknesses is going to be staring them in the face for nearly two weeks as they play these six straight games away from home, so if they’re to find a way to stay afloat in a tough month of December, they’ll need to drastically improve their play on the road in a hurry.

Otherwise, we could very well see their currently encouraging 13-13 record take a dramatic free fall. If there was ever a time for the Jazz to prove that their struggles on the road were nothing more than a repairable, early-season issue, now would be the time to do it.