Utah Jazz 2017-18 Week 13 Outlook, Predictions

The Utah Jazz play just two games in Week 13 as they wrap up what’s thus far been a brutal road trip to start out the new year.

Well, 2018 hasn’t exactly gone quite as the Utah Jazz might have hoped. After facing one of the most brutal stretches imaginable throughout the entire month of December, many theorized that the Jazz would be able to get back to their winning ways in January with a significantly less daunting schedule.

Unfortunately, that’s been far from the case as the Jazz have yet to win a game in January. That’s right, they went 0-3 in their first trio of games in the new year, falling to the New Orleans Pelicans, Denver Nuggets and Miami Heat.

As I admittedly tend to do, I got a bit swept up in the moment of Utah’s impressive win over the Cleveland Cavaliers to close out December and predicted that the Jazz would fare better in the new year by pinning them to go 2-1 last week. I had projected that Utah would stop the New Orleans Pelicans at home and finally reverse their road woes against the Miami Heat.

But as it turned out, the Pelicans used a strong second half to stop the Jazz and then they lost in heartbreak fashion in Miami. Those three consecutive losses dropped the Jazz to a woeful 16-24 on the season while, by correctly projecting the loss in Denver, I raised my record to an only slightly better 19-21.

The Jazz will look to once again reverse their road woes as they wrap up their four-game road trip with a two-game week against the Washington Wizards on Wednesday and Charlotte Hornets on Friday. This road trip has been pretty oddly spaced out, so don’t be surprised if the Jazz show some signs of fatigue and weariness in the coming contests.

And while it would be nice to see them figure out how to play away from home, with a 3-17 road record just before the season’s halfway point, I’d say it’s looking less than likely. Nevertheless, let’s still dive in and take a look at Utah’s pair of opponents in a rather light Week 13.

1/10 Utah at Washington

5:00 pm MT – AT&T SportsNet/League Pass

Opponent record: 23-17

Season series: Jazz lead 1-0

Despite some weird ups and downs for the Washington Wizards this season in which they’ve played quite well against top teams, but have often lost focus against lesser opponents, it appears that they’re slowly but surely starting to figure things out. They’ve won seven of their last 10 games to burst all the way to fourth place in the Eastern Conference. They recently notched impressive wins over the Boston Celtics and Houston Rockets and certainly are a foe to be reckoned with.

However, it was all smooth sailing for the Jazz the last time they squared off against the Wizards. In probably the most surprising performance of the season, Utah won an incredibly lopsided 116-69 contest over Washington, who apparently forgot to show up. Unfortunately, a lot has changed for the Jazz since that win. Not only are they now without Rudy Gobert, but they’ve also lost 13 of their last 16 since then and have looked absolutely lost in many of their match-ups.

Therefore, especially considering that the Jazz will be matched up against a tough backcourt duo of John Wall and Bradley Beal, I have a hard time imagining that this contest at the Verizon Center will be where they turn the corner in their struggles on the road. Despite how well the Jazz looked against Washington earlier in the year and dating back to last season, this Utah team simply hasn’t done anything to instill confidence in their ability to compete against top teams, particularly outside of Vivint Smart Home Arena.

In short, as much as it pains me to say it, unless the Wizards slip back into their unfocused ways against subpar teams, it’s quite likely that Utah will come up short against a surging Washington squad.

My Prediction: Wizards Win

Final Score: Washington 114, Utah 107

1/12 Utah at Charlotte

5:00 pm MT – AT&T SportsNet/League Pass

Opponent record: 15-23

Season series: Tied 0-0

To say the Charlotte Hornets have underachieved this season would be a drastic understatement. Although certainly not presumed as an elite contender by any means, the Hornets still have a considerable amount of talent on their team in the likes of Kemba Walker, Dwight Howard and Nicolas Batum, not to mention a heralded coach in Steve Clifford (although he’s missed over a month with health issues which could be a reason for some of the struggles).

You’d think with the pieces they have, they’d be right in the thick of playoff contention in a less than daunting Eastern Conference. Nevertheless, while the year is still far from over, they find themselves five games out of eighth place and have been nearly as bad as the Jazz on the road with a record of 5-13. That leaves them with a pretty significant hill to climb with only half of the season left to do it.

But the Hornets have played better of late as they’ve won three of their last four contests including a shocking victory over the Golden State Warriors at Oracle Arena. Sure, Steph Curry didn’t play in the contest, but it was a mind-blowing victory nonetheless.

Therefore, as would be the Jazz’s luck, it looks as if they may be facing off against the Hornets at just the wrong time. Not only that, but Utah has struggled to contain Kemba Walker, Charlotte’s leading scorer, in the past. And despite somewhat of a down year for him up to this point, he’s still more than capable of going off on any given night, especially when being covered by a weak defender like Ricky Rubio.

Meanwhile, Dwight Howard may give the Rudy Gobert-less Jazz some trouble and Jeremy Lamb has been on quite a tear of late. Combine all that with how much Utah has struggled on the road and their chances are looking less than favorable.

Still, the Hornets are just 15-23 so, much like the Jazz, they’ve dropped a number of winnable games themselves. Not only that, but while the win over Golden State was undoubtedly impressive, the other victories in their recent hot streak include games against the Los Angeles Lakers and Sacramento Kings, two dismal opponents.

Thus, I’m a little split on this one. The Jazz certainly should be able to win, but when playing on the road, you just never know what team is going to show up anymore. Therefore, in an attempt to utilize my often effective reverse-jinx, I’m going to pick the Jazz to lose this contest in hopes that it will result in them proving me wrong.

My Prediction: Hornets Win

Final Score: Charlotte 98, Utah 95

Next: Pistons, Blazers presumably join Utah Jazz in Mirotic pursuit

The Utah Jazz are well overdue for a turnaround and if they do indeed go 0-2 this week as I’ve projected, that will put them at 16-26, 10 games under .500. That’s an absolutely brutal spot to be in and one that will probably be tough to recover from, especially considering that it would come as a result of losing to two beatable teams.

I’m hoping Utah can get some momentum and start to right the ship considering that they’ve had two days off to prepare for these games, but I’m not exactly counting on it. If the Jazz’s road woes continue, at least we can find solace in knowing that the ever-exciting trade season is upon us and that Utah may be able to swing a deal that will benefit them in the future.

“In the future” being the key phrase there, because if Utah doesn’t snap out of this funk soon, that will indeed be all they have left to look forward to.