Utah Jazz: Upcoming six-game stretch will be crucial for playoff hopes

With six beatable opponents ahead on the schedule, the Utah Jazz absolutely have to take advantage of their next set of games to keep their playoff hopes alive.

This will probably sound like an understatement, but the Utah Jazz’s 2017-18 season has gone less than ideally. During a year that we all knew going in was going to have an absolutely minuscule margin of error if Utah were to have hopes of making the playoffs, they’ve certainly had the cards stacked against them time and time again.

Between a ridiculously tough December schedule, an onslaught of injuries to key guys such as Rudy Gobert and Dante Exum, and unforeseen road woes that have absolutely crippled the Jazz’s hopes of success, they’ve been far from on point this season. Those issues and several others have led them to hold just a 17-24 record at the midway point of the 2017-18 campaign, good for 10th place in the West and 3.5 games out of eighth place.

In other words, they have some pretty significant ground to make up if they are indeed to qualify for postseason play. Utah has a big hole to dig out of and although 41 remaining games is a pretty large amount, if the Jazz aren’t careful, they’ll find themselves out of time before they know it.

They didn’t do themselves any favors to begin the new year as they went 0-3 to start out 2018, dropping a trio of winnable games including a heartbreaker in Miami. Fortunately, the Jazz were able to bounce back somewhat in a hard-fought road win over the Washington Wizards on Wednesday, so hopefully that’s a sign of elevated confidence and that the Jazz are about to turn it around.

Unfortunately, their track record this season is far from indicating that such will be the case. The Jazz haven’t won consecutive games in over a month as the last time it happened was on December 1st and 4th when the Jazz beat the New Orleans Pelicans and Washington Wizards, respectively, to wrap up a four-game winning streak.

Since then, every time they’ve had a big win, they’ve seemingly followed it up with a dud. The Jazz will visit a presumably less formidable foe than the one they just beat when they take on the Charlotte Hornets tomorrow, but it’s going to take some solid focus and execution if they hope to come out on top.

Not to mention, for one reason or another, the Jazz have had the Wizards’ number the past two years and appear to match-up well against them. Against the Hornets, though, it’s been a different story. Utah has lost its last three contests on the road in Charlotte where they’ve been thoroughly dominated by point guard Kemba Walker, particularly in a 52-point outpouring during the 2015-16 season.

In other words, they can’t afford to simply overlook this upcoming contest even though they’re coming in off a big win. In fact, Utah is now in for a nice little stretch where if they can stay poised and play up to their potential, they might very well make a strong push up the standings.

Setting their road woes to one side, the Utah Jazz’s next six games are all very much winnable contests. That isn’t to say they’re easy, but none of the following opponents is a juggernaut by any means and if Utah can match their play from the game against Washington or really any of their wins during the month of December, they have a shot to win six straight (seven, counting the win over Washington).

Here’s a look at what’s ahead:

• 1/12 at Charlotte
• 1/15 vs. Indiana
• 1/17 at Sacramento
• 1/19 vs. New York
• 1/20 vs. LA Clippers
• 1/22 at Atlanta

As I already touched on, Charlotte has been a tough spot for the Jazz to play, so even though the Hornets are just 15-24 this season, that will be a battle. The Indiana Pacers are the lone squad during this stretch that is above .500 and they’ve been absolutely electrifying thanks largely to the play of Victor Oladipo. The Pacers slid a bit in the standings with Oladipo sidelined and recently have dealt with an injury to Myles Turner, but at 21-20, they’re a solid team that could give Utah problems.

The game at Sacramento hypothetically should be an easy win, but they’ve surprised some teams this year by getting hot and, of course, any game away from Vivint Smart Home Arena has been a challenge for the Jazz. The Knicks are another game that Utah ought to win, especially at home, but then playing the Clippers on the back end of a back-to-back is pretty worrisome. The Clips have been playing much better of late and certainly can’t be overlooked.

Last of all, the Atlanta Hawks fall in about the same box as the Kings. Utah should be able to handle them, but road woes and random blips of solid play from the Hawks make that game less than a cake walk as well.

Therefore, while Utah should very well be able to compete and hopefully beat all six of these teams, based on how streaky they’ve been this season, there’s no guarantee of that happening. If Utah somehow were to go 6-0 in this stretch, though, it would propel them all the way up to 23-24 and right back into playoff contention. Even a few minor slip-ups would still put them in a good spot.

However, if they’re unable to capitalize on what should be a very beneficial stretch against weakened competition, it could very well be the essential nail in their playoff coffin. Things get significantly tougher for the Jazz immediately following this stretch and February has several daunting games as well. So if Utah doesn’t take advantage now, it will likely be an indication that they simply can’t keep up in the West and their record will probably plummet from there.

So while on the surface, the next six games look like little more than your ho-hum games against middle of the road competition, in fact each contest will have incredibly heightened significance. The Jazz need wins if they’re to get back on course for making the playoffs and this stretch is about their best chance to get them in bunches if they are to do so.

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The winnable stretch tips off tomorrow in Charlotte at 5:00 PM MT before Utah finally returns home where they’ll play three of their next four contests.