The J-Notes
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Five things that need to happen for the Utah Jazz to make the playoffs

By Jared Woodcox

SALT LAKE CITY, UT - JANUARY 20: The Utah Jazz celebrate during the game against the LA Clippers on January 20, 2018 at Vivint Smart Home Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah. Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Melissa Majchrzak/NBAE via Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY, UT - JANUARY 20: The Utah Jazz celebrate during the game against the LA Clippers on January 20, 2018 at Vivint Smart Home Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah. Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Melissa Majchrzak/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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Jae Crowder Utah Jazz
SALT LAKE CITY, UT – FEBRUARY 14: Jae Crowder #99 of the Utah Jazz applauds after a game against the Phoenix Suns at Vivint Smart Home Arena on February 14, 2018 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by Gene Sweeney Jr./Getty Images) /

Defend Home Court With Their Life

Despite some inconsistencies all season long, the Utah Jazz have been a pretty staunch team at home all throughout the 2017-18 season with a record of 18-9 within the friendly confines of Vivint Smart Home Arena. That’s a better home record than each of the three teams ahead of them in the standings – the LA Clippers, New Orleans Pelicans and Portland Trail Blazers.

And that’s good news for the Jazz considering that 14 of their final 24 contests will take place at home. Once again, by taking care of business in an extremely advantageous area, the Jazz could have a clear path to the 12 wins that they’ll hypothetically need to make the playoffs.

Sure, some of the teams they’ll face at home are daunting such as the Golden State Warriors, Boston Celtics, Minnesota Timberwolves and Houston Rockets. Nevertheless, consider how well Utah played just before the All-Star break as well as how respectably they’ve played at home even when going through struggles as a team and it wouldn’t be a stretch to suppose that the Jazz could win the majority of their home games.

Some of these home contests are against the lesser teams mentioned in the previous section, but others are not. Either way, if the Jazz can win at least around eight or nine of their home games to close out the season, that will put them in a great spot to steal a few road victories where they’ve been much better of late. Between easy opponents and a heavy home schedule, the Jazz appear to be in surprisingly good shape to conclude the 2017-18 regular season.

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