2/24 Utah vs. Dallas
7:00 pm MT – AT&T SportsNet/League Pass
Opponent record: 18-40
Season series: Jazz lead 1-0
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban was recently slapped with a $600,000 fine for expressing publicly that it was in the team’s best interest to lose for the remainder of the season. While that’s one hefty penalty, don’t expect it to drive Cuban to have a change of heart. This Mavs team has been awful all year long and with a top draft pick as their only goal from here on out, you can bet that things will only get worse for them this season.
The Jazz handily defeated the Mavs earlier in the year by a score of 104-89 even though Utah was still trying to find its way at that point and Donovan Mitchell hadn’t yet burst onto the scene. Consider now that Dallas will likely be less than motivated to win and that Utah has been playing out of this world basketball, and this one should be an easy win for the Jazz.
These tanking comments by Mavericks owner Mark Cuban -- "losing is our best option" -- drew a $600,000 fine from the NBA, via Julius Erving's "House Call" podcast pic.twitter.com/GVFMBG6Sxz
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) February 21, 2018
That said, the contest still comes on the second night of a back-to-back against a savvy Mavs team that boasts two reputed Jazz killers in Dirk Nowitzki and J.J. Barea, so Utah can’t get caught unaware. Luckily, it’s the second night of a back-to-back for Dallas as well as they’ll be travelling into Salt Lake City after a late 8:30 PM match-up the night before against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Therefore, this may turn out to be somewhat of an ugly game, but hopefully the Jazz will be able to use home court to their advantage against a Mavs team that’s just 7-21 on the road. Not only that, but Utah simply boasts a more talented team, so there’s really no excuse not to just get it done in this instance.
If the team that played so well together leading up to the All-Star break is the one that shows up on Saturday night, then they should be able to topple the Mavs with ease. And that’s about exactly what I expect to happen.
My Prediction: Jazz Win
Final Score: Utah 112, Dallas 97
Next: Utah Jazz: Does Donovan Mitchell now have the edge in ROY race?
So once again I have the Jazz finishing off the week 2-0 to increase their streak to an astounding 13 wins. If they’re able to do that, depending on how the opponents directly ahead of them in the standings fare, there’s a very good chance that Utah could finally advance in the standings by this week or next.
The Clippers play the Golden State Warriors tomorrow and the Pelicans play a pair of tough teams in the Miami Heat and Milwaukee Bucks on Friday and Sunday, respectively. If those all result in losses for the Clips and Pels, it will be big for the Jazz. The Jazz own the tiebreaker over both those teams, so even if their records are the same, Utah will pull ahead of them in the standings.
That should add even more incentive to a pair of games in Week 19 that already carry a lot of weight. The Jazz will be even more greatly challenged in Week 20 which features games against the Houston Rockets and Minnesota Timberwolves, so it will be important that they re-establish momentum and a rhythm right away against easier opponents this week.