Five things that need to happen for the Utah Jazz to make the playoffs

LAC, NOP, POR and/or DEN Need to Slip

As favorable as the Utah Jazz’s outlook appears to close out the season, the simple fact of the matter is that since they’re in tenth place, they do not control their own destiny. Yes, winning as many games as possible will certainly be the best strategy, but the fact of the matter is that at this point they can’t get into the playoffs without a little help.

If they’re to climb out of tenth place and into the thick of things in the West, they desperately need the teams that are the closest ahead of them in the standings to start dropping games. The LA Clippers are currently one game ahead of the Jazz, The New Orleans Pelicans are 1.5 games ahead and the Portland Trail Blazers and Denver Nuggets are both two games ahead.

And unfortunately, as impressive as Utah’s 11-game winning streak has been, it turns out the teams ahead of them in the standings put up some nice wins prior to the break as well. The Clippers have won two in a row as well as seven of their last ten, the Pelicans and Nuggets closed out before the All-Star break with three straight wins and the Trail Blazers knocked off the Golden State Warriors in their final game before the break.

The Jazz won’t gain ground if those four teams continue to win like they have and, especially considering that Utah is bound to slip at some point and see their win streak broken, they’ll definitely need at least two of those four teams to start piling up several losses. Fortunately, all four of those teams’ remaining schedules are significantly tougher than that of the Utah Jazz, so it’s entirely possible that such will be precisely the case.

In terms of Utah’s focus, they need to pay attention to what they can control and simply continue to win games. However, it remains fact nonetheless that if they’re to have hope of actually making the playoffs, they’ll need their closest competitors to start dropping games more frequently to allow the Jazz to catch up and surpass them in the standings.

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As crazy as it would have sounded just a month ago, I truly believe that the Jazz are in a great spot to make the playoffs and that they will go on to do so. Between a lighter schedule while the teams above them in the standings have tough stretches and the fact that the Jazz seem to have finally figured one another out and played extremely well before the break, there’s plenty of reasons to be optimistic about their chances.

They’ll resume play on Friday, February 23 when they host the Portland Trail Blazers in a game which could very well spark Utah’s post-All-Star break push into the postseason. Unquestionably, their final 24 games of the season are going to be an absolute thrill ride as 10 teams in the West battle it out for just eight playoff spots.