Utah Jazz 2017-18 Week 11 Outlook, Predictions

The Utah Jazz are already four games below .500 and are at risk of falling into an even deeper hole with a tough three-game slate ahead in Week 11.

Well, Christmas has come and gone, and unfortunately the Utah Jazz did little to grace us with a solid gift leading up to the holiday. Yes, their win on Thursday over the San Antonio Spurs was an impressive and much-needed outing, but they went 1-3 for the week and were right back to their woeful ways in a dropped game to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday in Salt Lake City.

Their struggles dropped them to 15-19 on the season with a trio of tough games ahead to close out the month. I didn’t fare any better in my predictions for last week, as the only outcome I correctly identified was the loss to Houston, meaning that I went 1-3 as well, dropping my record on the season to 16-18, barely better than the Jazz.

Neither outcome is very reassuring when looking at the tough slate facing the Jazz in Week 11 of NBA action. First, the Jazz will be back on the road on Tuesday as they’ll visit the Denver Nuggets. Despite having to battle through their share of injuries, the Nuggets have been playing extremely well of late, most notably former Jazzman Trey Lyles, and you can bet that he’ll be out for revenge as will his Nuggets team which has dropped both contests to Utah so far this season.

Then the Jazz will head out to Oracle Arena to take on the reigning NBA Champion Golden State Warriors on the wrong end of a back-to-back. Despite the absence of Steph Curry, the Warriors have remained red hot and stealing a win on their home court will be an absolutely daunting task.

Last of all, Utah will close out the week on Saturday at home against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Although the Cavs are considered by most to be the best team in the Eastern Conference, it’s no secret that LeBron James has had his struggles in Salt Lake City, losing six straight games there. Hopefully Donovan Mitchell and Co. will be able to keep that streak alive by stopping him inside Vivint Smart Home Arena once again.

Utah currently sits at four games under .500 and if you were hoping this upcoming week would be a bounce-back for them, considering the level of competition they’ll be facing, that probably won’t be the case. Before jumping to any hasty conclusions, though, let’s take a closer look at what exactly the Jazz will be up against in the eleventh week of the 2017-18 season.

12/26 Utah at Denver

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

Opponent record: 18-15

Season series: Jazz lead 2-0

The Denver Nuggets have to be feeling pretty good considering that their most recent contest resulted in a surprising drubbing of the Golden State Warriors which saw Denver win by a score of 96-81 while holding the Warriors to a dreadful 3-of-27 (11.1 percent) outing from behind the three-point line.

Regardless of the health or mindset of Golden State in that game, that’s an impressive performance on both ends of the floor for the Nuggets, and one that ought to have them feeling confident as they prepare to face a slumping Jazz team back on their home court where they’re an insane 11-3. Meanwhile, the Jazz are just about opposite on the road where they’ve won only three of 16 contests this season.

That’s an extremely bad combination. The Nuggets are playing well and are exceptional in their tough home environment, whereas Utah hasn’t been able to beat hardly anybody on the road. The Nuggets are without Paul Millsap, but as I mentioned in the intro, Trey Lyles has been absolutely phenomenal in his absence and several other players have stepped up big time as well.

The Jazz do own a 2-0 series lead this season, which makes me feel good about how well they match-up against the Nuggets and gives me some hope that they’ll be able to pull of yet another win, but the discrepancy in the two teams’ home vs. road records makes me feel extremely less confident in Utah’s chances. Particularly as they continue to muddle forward without Rudy Gobert, I have a hard time seeing them pulling off a win in an extremely hostile Pepsi Center.

Therefore, while this is certainly a game that I could see going either way, I’m going to bet that Denver finds a way to outmatch a Jazz team that can’t seem to find any sort of rhythm on the road.

My Prediction: Nuggets Win

Final Score: Denver 112, Utah 108

12/27 Utah at Golden State

8:30 pm MT – AT&T SportsNet/NBATV

Opponent record: 27-7

Season series: Tied 0-0

It feels like there’s very little that needs to be said about this one. Yes, the Warriors dropped an ugly one to the Nuggets right before Christmas, but that seemed more like one of those mental lapse flukes where the overwhelmingly dominant Warriors just lost focus and quite frankly didn’t care to show up more than it was an actual defeat.

Those kind of slips seem to happen about once a month or so for Golden State and if the Nuggets were the lucky benefactors of such a night, it seems nearly impossible that Utah will be able to replicate it so soon. Because, let’s just face it, the Jazz (like practically every team in the NBA) are absolutely outmatched by the Golden State Warriors.

The Warriors were back in form on Christmas Day where they earned a nail-biter victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers. If Golden State puts together a complete game as they did on that occasion, then it’s likely the score won’t even be close as they’ll be able to simply punish the Jazz.

Not to mention, if Kevin Durant is able to get away with whatever he darn well pleases, which is exactly what happened in the Christmas Day game, then no player or team will be able to keep pace with him or his Warriors team at all. What an exhilarating prospect. Bravo NBA and Bravo NBA officiating.

But I digress…

In short, as nice as it is to dream (and when tip-off for this game occurs, I’ll be right there with all the rest of the dreamers), I think we all are pretty certain about what the outcome of this one will be. The Jazz will fall in dramatic fashion.

My Prediction: Warriors Win

Final Score: Golden State 120, Utah 101

12/30 Utah at Cleveland

6:00 pm MT – AT&T SportsNet/League Pass

Opponent record: 24-10

Season series: Cavs lead 1-0

What better way to end the most difficult month that any team faces this season than to play the two reigning conference champion teams in consecutive games. What fun! And how reassuring for Utah’s record!

Despite the disappointing result they faced on Christmas Day, the Cleveland Cavaliers have been absolutely sensational of late. They’ve won 18 of their last 21 games, which included a victory over the Utah Jazz in Cleveland. Led by the great LeBron James, there’s simply no questioning that the Cavs are one of the best teams in the league and an absolute force to be reckoned with.

Under normal circumstances, all logic would point to the Cavs simply winning Saturday’s game in easy fashion. However, for some reason when LeBron comes to Salt Lake, those normal circumstances go out the window. He’s lost six straight contests in Utah, some of which came against less than formidable Jazz teams.

Therefore, if there’s really a curse in place here, then perhaps the Jazz are destined to hand him a seventh straight loss. After all, Utah has been exceptional at home this year with a record of 12-6 and they’ve recently earned some statement wins over powerhouse teams such as the Boston Celtics and San Antonio Spurs. So if they get hot, who’s to say that they can’t step up and defeat Cleveland once again?

There’s no doubt in my mind that they CAN do it. However, six straight losses for LeBron in a single stadium is absurd in and of itself and I honestly have a hard time seeing it extending any further, especially when contrasting how good the Cavs have played this month compared to how much Utah has struggled this month, albeit it during a tough stretch of schedule.

Therefore, I’m going to be the naysayer, predicting that LeBron’s Salt Lake City curse will come to an end on Saturday as he and the Cleveland Cavaliers will narrowly come out on top.

My Prediction: Cavaliers Win

Final Score: Cleveland 105, Utah 101

Next: Utah Jazz notes: Donovan Mitchell not a fan of Jonas Jerebko’s driving?

I know, I know, picking the Jazz to go 0-3 this week is extremely pessimistic of me. Quite frankly, I believe they’ll end up stealing a game, just like they have the past two weeks despite being the underdogs. The problem is, when evaluating each game individually, I couldn’t tell you which one that will be because on the surface they all seem like losses.

However, I also pinned the Jazz to lose to both San Antonio and Boston in recent contests and they proved me wrong, so there’s no reason to believe they can’t do it again. I’m optimistic that they’ll be able to make me eat my words and do better than the 0-3 mark I’ve pinned them at.

But on the other hand, based on the analysis I’ve provided here, I suppose it wouldn’t surprise me if Utah did indeed drop all three as well. I see the contests against Denver and Cleveland as the more winnable of the three, but each one is going to be brutally difficult.

Things are set to ease up significantly for the Jazz next month, but they’re already in a hole of four games below .500 and if that gets even worse, it’s going to be a challenge for them to get back in the playoff mix. Hopefully they’ll be firing on all cylinders this week and be able to gift us a belated Christmas gift by stealing an unexpected win or two.