Utah Jazz: 2017-18 Northwest Division Comparison – January

Now that 2017 has come to a close, let’s take a look at where the Utah Jazz stack up compared to the rest of their Northwest Division foes.

As we turn the page over to the new calendar year and draw near to the midway point of the season, the Northwest Division continues to appear full of playoff-worthy foes. However, the question that remains unanswered is where each team will end up in the mix. Heading into 2018, Northwest Division teams find themselves in consecutive playoff seeds – fourth through seventh – with only a game separating fifth and seventh place.

Meanwhile, the Utah Jazz are unfortunately on the outside looking in after a tough month of December, but even at five games below .500, they’re still just 2.5 games out of a playoff spot and well within striking distance. While the Jazz have certainly looked like the weakest team of the division so far, they still have time to turn things around and prove themselves, whereas the Minnesota Timberwolves have seemingly proved themselves as the leader of the pack.

Nevertheless, with nearly four months left in the regular season, it’s still very much possible that the Jazz could surge past the Portland Trail Blazers or Denver Nuggets, or that the Oklahoma City Thunder could continue their recent upwards trajectory and overtake the top spot in the division. Just as expected, the Northwest Division has been highly competitive and will certainly be a fight to the finish between the five teams.

Perhaps January will bring about more distinction between the squads, or maybe they’ll all stay in a closely contested cluster as they jockey for playoff seeding. Whatever the case may be, let’s take a look at each team in the division and how they’ve fared up to this point.

Portland Trail Blazers

Current Record: 18-17

Standings: 4th in Division, 7th in Conference

After a hot start that had me feeling pretty confident in Portland’s chances of being one of the more surprising teams of the division, they faced a similarly tough December schedule just as Utah did and struggled to make their way through it. The Blazers went just 5-8 during the month which saw them face off against the likes of the Golden State Warriors, San Antonio Spurs, Houston Rockets and Minnesota Timberwolves, all of which resulted in losses.

The Blazers also took a hit from the injury bug as Damian Lillard has missed their last four contests due to a hamstring issue. Portland did manage to go 2-2 during that stretch, but the wins came against the hapless Los Angeles Lakers and Atlanta Hawks, so they weren’t much to write home about.

If Lillard is further hampered by the injury, it could prove fatal for Portland moving forward. That’s especially true considering that January doesn’t get much easier for them until the very end of the month. Four of their first six games in the new year are against the Cleveland Cavaliers, San Antonio Spurs, Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder.

Given their recent struggles and the injury to Damian Lillard, the Blazers may very well turn out to be the team that the Jazz have the best chance of catching in the division. Still, Lillard is projected to make a return soon and Portland has several other capable pieces, so despite some recent setbacks, they could still very well have a bounce-back month in January and remain firmly in the thick of the playoff mix.

They’ll end the month with three extremely winnable games, so while the Jazz may be able to begin nipping at their heels, expect Portland to stay at no worse than fourth in the division heading into February as well.

Denver Nuggets

Current Record: 19-17

Standings: 3rd in Division, 6th in Conference

The Denver Nuggets have been extremely odd of late. They’ve put up some huge wins and amazing performances recently such as a shocking road win over the Golden State Warriors and the blowout victory over the Utah Jazz. However, they’ve won just five of their last 10, dropped some very winnable games to close out the month and ended up going just 7-8 in December.

Yes, much like the most of the rest of the Northwest Division, they’ve had a tough schedule of late, but for the Nuggets to have a month with a losing record that featured them playing insanely well but also disappointingly bad has to be a bit worrisome for Denver fans. At the same time, though, I suppose it shouldn’t come as much surprise. The team is very inexperienced overall and their most formidable veteran presence, Paul Millsap, remains sidelined as he recovers from wrist surgery.

In reality, perhaps the Nuggets should be receiving more praise for keeping their heads above water as they have in spite of the Millsap injury. Gary Harris and Jamal Murray have been playing quite well of late as they prove their worth for this Nuggets team, and the fact that they’re two games above .500 after the tough slate they faced in December is perhaps a testament to how good they can be this year.

And they’ve got a pretty favorable schedule in January in which they’ll take on several beatable teams, so don’t be surprised if this young and resilient Nuggets team only continues to climb the standings, putting them in a great spot as we draw nearer to next month’s All-Star break.

Oklahoma City Thunder

Current Record: 20-17

Standings: 2nd in Division, 5th in Conference

If you thought the Denver Nuggets had been weird of late, try figuring out the Oklahoma City Thunder. Despite an abysmal start to the year, the sentiment surrounding the team has been that they have to get things sorted out at some point.

Well, it finally looked like they were doing just that as they stormed to a six-game winning streak late in the month which included big-time wins over the Denver Nuggets, Houston Rockets and Toronto Raptors (not to mention the Jazz twice). The Thunder put up some tantalizing performances in those contests and it looked as if they had indeed finally turned the corner.

However, immediately after that hot streak, the Thunder seemed to revert to their former head-scratching ways as they dropped consecutive games to the Milwaukee Bucks and Dallas Mavericks, both of which were well within reach. Sure, the Thunder got pretty screwed by a late missed call against the Bucks and Paul George didn’t play in the contest, but there was little excuse against a struggling Mavs team save for the absence of Andre Roberson.

Nevertheless, despite some puzzling losses, December was still an incredible month for the Thunder as they went an astounding 12-5 despite facing some tough competition. That rocketed them all the way from last in the division and ninth in the conference to second in the division and fifth in the conference in an extremely short period of time.

There will still likely be some bumps along the way, but I think the last 31 days have proven that the Thunder are extremely close to righting the ship and getting things figured out. If they’re truly able to do just that, then it wouldn’t be all that surprising to see them continue to bust their way up the standings and eventually take the conference crown, as many projected they would prior to the season’s start.

Minnesota Timberwolves

Current Record: 23-14

Standings: 1st in Division, 4th in Conference

Quite frankly, the Minnesota Timberwolves had a relatively easy schedule in December, especially compared to what Utah and Portland had to go through. And although they lost some games that they are probably pretty upset about, overall they took care of business going 10-5 during the month.

It was their highest win percentage of any month of the season so far and the fact that they’re the only team in the division that has yet to post a sub-.500 record for a month has given them some nice separation in the standings. While there’s a logjam at the fifth through seventh spot in the West, the T-Wolves enjoy a nice three-game lead over the OKC Thunder for fourth in the conference.

However, that’s a lead they may not be able to hold on to for long as the month of January takes a much tougher turn for Minnesota. They’ll have to take on the likes of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Boston Celtics, Houston Rockets, Golden State Warriors and Toronto Raptors (twice), not to mention some tough divisional opponents.

Despite continually racking up wins, the Wolves have seemed highly inconsistent and somewhat unreliable all season long. Therefore, the tougher slate in January will be an excellent chance for them to prove whether they’re a real threat in the West or merely a pretender. Their record and fourth place spot looks nice for now, but they’ll have their work cut out for them if they hope to defend it, particularly against a surging Oklahoma City team.

If I had to take a guess, I would say that the up and down Timberwolves will no longer find themselves atop the division once February rolls around.

Utah Jazz

Current Record: 16-21

Standings: 5th in Division, 10th in Conference

Last but certainly not least are our very own Utah Jazz. They’re obviously in the toughest spot of any of their divisional foes, but as I covered in detail yesterday, they’re far from down and out. After taking on several of their most difficult opponents in seemingly one stretch during the toughest month that any team will face this season, things get considerably easier for the Jazz in January.

Nevertheless, they’ll still face a tough road trip right out of the gates and a number of other challenges this month. They need to reverse their road woes right away if they hope to prove to be any sort of competition moving forward. The Jazz have certainly had some bright moments this season, but they’ve been unable to string together any sort of consistency on either end of the floor.

I truly believe that trend can change and that if the Jazz get some momentum rolling in January, they could very well find themselves in the thick of playoff contention with the rest of their divisional foes. They may still be in fifth in the division by month’s end, but it’s quite possible that they’ll have made significant progress in closing the gap.

On the other hand, if I’m way off and the Jazz struggle once again after going just 5-10 in December, it could very well erase their playoff hopes entirely. Although there’s plenty of time for a comeback, I feel that bouncing back after last month’s ringer will be vital for the Jazz and that their performance in January could very well make or break their season.

Next: Utah Jazz: Bradley, Williams-Goss thriving away from NBA limelight

Without question, there’s a lot to figure out and a lot to look forward to in 2018 as the teams of the stacked Northwest Division continue to battle one another for supremacy. Look for the Utah Jazz to make a significant push as they aim to keep pace in the West.