Key #3 – Capitalize on turnovers
Another area in which the Utah Jazz had the edge in their previous win over the Pelicans was in the turnover department as the Jazz finished with just eight to New Orleans’ ten. In truth, both teams took care of the ball relatively well, but the fact that Utah won that battle was a nice aspect of the victory.
And if Utah hopes to win again, they’ll need to do their best to once again top New Orleans in this category. On the season, the Pelicans haven’t exactly done a great job of taking care of the ball. They’re just 27th in the league in turnovers at 15.8 per game and 24th in the league in opponent points off turnovers at 18.3 per game.
In other words, the Pelicans tend to cough the ball up with significant regularity and their opponents then tend to take advantage. Especially considering that at times Utah’s offense struggles to get going, it will be absolutely critical that they continue that trend by forcing the Pelicans into turnovers then capitalizing on them themselves.
If the Jazz can cause New Orleans to match or surpass their season averages in turnovers and opponent points off turnovers on Wednesday night, then Utah will likely be in an extremely favorable position to win the game.