Utah Jazz 2017-18 Week 16 Outlook, Predictions

The Utah Jazz come into the 16th week of the 2017-18 NBA season with some nice momentum, but will be in for some tough challenges.

Well, the Utah Jazz went 2-1 last week just as I predicted. But I never could have foreseen the way they’d go about it. Utah began the week by dropping arguably their most disappointing loss of the season as they were man-handled by the lowly Atlanta Hawks. It was a lackluster performance that had fans thinking that the team had hit a new low.

But how did they respond from there? Oh, you know, only by winning two straight games for the first time since early December, both of which were played on the road and one against the second best team in the Eastern Conference. Yep, that’s right Utah bounced back by beating the Detroit Pistons and Toronto Raptors in a pair of electrifying games that produced some hope that perhaps this Jazz team has turned the corner.

While the Jazz went 2-1 in Week 15, I went just 1-2 in my predictions as I expected them to beat Atlanta and lose to the Raptors. Therefore, while the Jazz raised their record to 21-28, mine dropped to 23-26. If Utah can continue to catch up to me, I’ll be more than happy, though.

But it won’t be easy for them to continue to improve this upcoming week. About the only favorable thing about this week is that they get three days off to get ready for the first game. Other than that, it could be tough sledding. They’ll start out on Tuesday against the reigning champion Golden State Warriors in their lone home game of the week. The Jazz will be rolling out their new city jerseys and city court making for an exciting night regardless of the outcome.

From there, they’ll hit the road to take on the Phoenix Suns on Friday. The lowly Suns and their dismal defense should be viewed as an easy win for the Jazz, but they dropped an ugly game there earlier in the year and despite Utah’s latest two victories, I’m not entirely convinced that they’re over their road woes that have been so prevalent this year.

Last of all, on the second night of a back-to-back, the Jazz will face off against the San Antonio Spurs on the road on Saturday. The Jazz actually hold the series lead over the Spurs who, despite still ranking third in the Western Conference, have had their share of ups and downs this year as they try to navigate through key injuries, most notably to Kawhi Leonard.

So despite a quick home stop against the Warriors on Tuesday, the Jazz will once again spend most of the week on the road. If it’s felt like they’ve been on the road more than home lately, that wouldn’t be far from the truth. After this week, the Jazz will have played 28 games on the road and 24 at home. More recently, since December 5th, 17 of their 25 games have been on the road.

Fortunately, that means some nice home stands are coming soon, but the Jazz will still have to get through a tough slate this week before things start to ease up. With that being the case, let’s take a closer look at what they’ll be up against in Week 16 of NBA action.

1/30 Utah vs. Golden State

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

Opponent record: 39-10

Season series: Warriors lead 1-0

About a month ago when the Utah Jazz faced the Golden State Warriors, they were able to keep it pretty close up until halftime. Unfortunately, the Warriors broke through in the second half and walked away with a pretty easy win. The Warriors have been an exceptional third quarter team, whereas the Jazz have struggled mightily in that period.

As I mentioned, the Jazz will be busting out their new city jerseys and court for this game, so there should be quite a lot of buzz and excitement. Hopefully, that will instill them with some momentum and energy, but it’s going to take a lot more than that to beat a dominant Warriors team.

The Warriors certainly appear to be in championship form as they’ve won six of their last seven contests which includes big-time wins over the Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers and Toronto Raptors. Golden State once again boasts four All-Stars in this year’s edition of the big event and each of them – Kevin Durant, Steph Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson –  have played worthy of that recognition.

That’s obviously a lot of firepower to stop and few teams have been able to do so. As cool as it would be to see Utah come out and earn a big win over the reigning champs, their lack of consistency on either end of the floor coupled with their lack of star power will probably result in them falling short.

The Jazz were once considered a reasonably tough match-up for the Warriors, but they haven’t prevailed much at all in recent years and are even less formidable now, so I’m predicting that Golden State will come away with a relatively comfortable win over the Jazz.

My Prediction: Warriors Win

Final Score: Golden State 120, Utah 101

2/2 Utah at Phoenix

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

Opponent record: 17-32

Season series: Suns lead 1-0

The Phoenix Suns have been absolutely brutal to watch for most of the season, but it was the Jazz who were even less of a viewing pleasure the last time these two squads faced off. Utah was absolutely lacking in energy in that game and the Suns were able to run away with a low-scoring 97-88 victory. It was considered at the time as a low-point of the season. If only that had been the case…

However, Phoenix has done little to right the ship since then while the Jazz have at least shown some signs of life. The Suns have lost three games in a row and eight of their last ten, and it’s little wonder why. They’re third to last in the league in defensive rating (109.5) and fourth to last in offensive rating (102.4) making them one of the worst teams on both ends of the floor.

A lot of that has to do with effort as this Suns team has been known to simply quit, particularly on the defensive end. They are led by shooting extraordinaire Devin Booker who’s putting up 24.5 points per game on 43.3 percent shooting from the field and 38 percent from deep, but even that hasn’t been nearly enough to save them from their other issues.

Booker and his fans felt that he was snubbed from the All-Star Game, but when you do little more than shoot (and at less than an efficient rate, especially for a supposed All-Star) while bringing little else to the table, average nearly four turnovers per game and play for one of the worst teams in the league, even the high scoring rate looks less than impressive.

Therefore, while it certainly will be important for the Jazz to hold an electrifying scorer like Booker in check, there’s still no reason why they shouldn’t be able to overcome their road woes and earn the victory. I believe they learned from their previous loss in Phoenix and are slowly but surely starting to turn around their lack of discipline on the road, so I’m expecting Utah to figure out a way to come out on top in this one.

My Prediction: Jazz Win

Final Score: Utah 98, Phoenix 91

2/3 Utah at San Antonio

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

Opponent record: 32-19

Season series: Jazz lead 1-0

As I mentioned previously, it’s been an odd season for the San Antonio Spurs. They’re just 5-5 in their last ten games and now hold just a half-game lead over the Minnesota Timberwolves for third place in the West. During their recent 10-game stretch, they’ve beat the likes of the Denver Nuggets and Cleveland Cavaliers, but have also fallen to the Atlanta Hawks and Los Angeles Lakers.

I guess when considering how much Cleveland and Denver have struggled of late as well, though, you could certainly make the argument that none of the Spurs’ recent wins have been all that impressive and that they are in a bit of a funk. Hopefully that will hold true and the Jazz will be able to take advantage of a team that very well could be reeling.

But the fact of the matter is that you can never count out San Antonio. No matter how much they may be struggling or what issues they might be facing, they are always a tough out, especially on their home court. With Kawhi Leonard out of commission, they’ve been paced by recently named All-Star LaMarcus Aldridge who is putting up 22.4 points per contest on nearly 50 percent shooting from the field while grabbing 8.6 boards per game.

It will be critical that the Jazz stop him as well as the rest of San Antonio’s well-balanced attack throughout both their first and second units if they are to come away with a win. Utah was able to do just that about a month ago on their home court, but I have a feeling the Jazz may struggle away from home on this one. I could definitely see this game going either way considering how up-and-down the Spurs have been, but I’m instead going to play it safe and pin the Spurs as winners in this one by a narrow margin.

My Prediction: Spurs Win

Final Score: San Antonio 104, Utah 100

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Utah’s last two victories were a nice step in the right direction as they look to repair their ever-shrinking playoff hopes. However, if they are to truly advance in that aspect, they’ll need to somehow put together a thrilling Week 16 as well. Although I picked them to go just 1-2, to keep their momentum from Week 15 rolling, it’s likely imperative that they pull off the upset over Golden State or San Antonio to instead go 2-1.

That will be far from an easy task, but considering the hole that the Jazz have dug themselves into early, no one said getting back into the mix would be easy. Regardless of how the final record pans out this week, the thing I’m most anxious to see is whether or not the Jazz can maintain their high level of play from last week and take it with them moving forward. Even if they lose to both Golden State and San Antonio, there will be a big difference between competing and getting their clocks cleaned.

If Utah comes out 1-2 as I’ve predicted, but hangs tough with both of those teams, it will likely be a good sign that they can still turn things around before the conclusion of the season.