Key No. 2 – Win the turnover battle
Given that the Jazz beat the Bulls by 30 points in the season’s first meeting, it’s pretty clear that there were a lot of things that went right. From start to finish the Jazz absolutely dominated in nearly every way.
However, one of the main areas in which the Jazz were absolutely superb was in taking care of the ball on their end while forcing Chicago into turnovers on theirs. Utah logged a season-low seven turnovers in that contest while forcing the Bulls into 16. Those 16 miscues turned into 22 points for the Jazz which was nearly the difference in the game.
Top 5 Plays of The Week
— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) December 12, 2017
Which was your favorite? pic.twitter.com/65csl9nOKM
Therefore, as the Utah Jazz look to top the Bulls once again, it will be critical that they look to have a repeat performance in the turnover department. Surprisingly, on the season the Chicago Bulls have actually been pretty solid at taking care of the ball as they rank seventh in the league in turnovers per game with just 14.2. That’s even better than Utah who’s at 14th with 14.9 per game.
In other words, the result in turnovers in the last bout was a departure from the norm as the Jazz were surprisingly able to force Chicago into an uncharacteristic night. Difficult though that may be to repeat, it’s something that will be vital for the Jazz to do if they hope to come away with a road win over a hot Bulls team.