Utah Jazz can still make playoffs, but they’re going to need some help

If the Utah Jazz are to climb back into the playoff mix, they’ll need some of their closest competitors in the standings to finally start slumping.

Prior to the All-Star break, the Utah Jazz rattled off 11 straight victories in mind-blowing fashion that included huge wins over the likes of the Toronto Raptors, Golden State Warriors, San Antonio Spurs and Portland Trail Blazers. The run took the Jazz from looking almost sure to be lottery-bound to suddenly being a serious player in the playoff race.

Unfortunately, following the All-Star break, it’s been far from smooth sailing so far for the Jazz. They’ve now lost two of their last three and their only win was an ugly and narrow victory over the hapless Dallas Mavericks. Utah’s recent performances are making their formerly incredible 11-game winning streak look more like a fluke than a reversal of early-season play as they’ve since reverted back to their old ways and struggles.

That’s the bad news. The good news is that the Jazz still have 21 games to turn things back around. Not to mention, a relatively easy schedule over that span to do so. However, as they remain in 10th place in the West and now 2.5 games out of eighth place, it’s pretty clear that for them to move up the ranks and into the playoff mix, not only are they going to have to play well themselves, but they’re going to need to get a little help.

Just before the end of the All-Star break, I wrote an article describing five things that needed to happen in order for the Jazz to make the playoffs. Unfortunately, three games in they haven’t been able to check a lot of those boxes. Let’s review those real quick for good measure, shall we?

• Take Care of Business Against Lesser Teams – So the only team that they’ve played since the break that I would consider “lesser” is obviously the Dallas Mavericks. And while it was ugly, they did win the game, so I’ll give the Jazz this one.

• Defend Home Court With Their Life – All three of Utah’s games after the break have been at home and they’ve lost two of the three. Sure, Houston and Portland are far from pushovers, but if the Jazz are serious about making the playoffs, those are the kind of games they need to pull out on their home court and it would have been much more reassuring to see them at least go 1-1 in those two games.

• Get the Ricky Rubio from the win streak back – Prior to Utah’s big win streak, Ricky Rubio had been one of the most disappointing players on the team. Then, all of a sudden, he burst onto the scene and was critical in the Jazz’s success. Many thought he had flipped a switch, figured out the Jazz system and would be a great contributor moving forward. Unfortunately, since the break, he’s been anything but as he’s largely reverted back to his old ways. In the three games back, Rubio is averaging just 8.3 points on 32 percent shooting from the field, while turning it over 2.3 times per game and logging a plus/minus of -2.7

• Stay Healthy – As soon as Ricky Rubio came back, backup point guard Raul Neto, who’s done a decent job of running the offense in brief stints, went out. He’s not crucial to Utah’s success per se, but it’s unbelievable how this team can’t ever seem to produce a fully healthy roster. Things could be much, much worse, though, so we won’t complain for now.

• Teams above Utah in the standings need to slip – This hasn’t come anywhere close to happening, so let’s dive a little deeper into it.

Even after winning 11 straight games, the Jazz still found themselves in 10th place in the West. However, that surge had them nipping on the heels of the teams right in front of them. Many Jazz fans figured that as long as those foes started dropping games, the Jazz would surpass them in a heartbeat.

But unfortunately, the likes of the LA Clippers, New Orleans Pelicans, Denver Nuggets and Portland Trail Blazers continue to play amazingly. The Oklahoma City Thunder have slipped somewhat and we’ll see what the Minnesota Timberwolves are able to do without Jimmy Butler moving forward, but all of them still have maintained a lead over Utah.

The ninth-place Clippers have won three of their last four and eight of their last 11. Oddly enough, they’re faring much better than the Detroit Pistons who were viewed by many as the winners of the trade that landed them former Clipper Blake Griffin.

The eighth-place Nuggets have won 10 of their last 14 which includes a number of big and in some cases unexpected wins over the likes of the San Antonio Spurs, Golden State Warriors, Oklahoma City Thunder and Portland Trail Blazers.

The seventh-place Thunder are just 5-5 in their last ten, but they were playing well before that stretch and seem just too talented to realistically slip out of the playoff mix.

The sixth-place Blazers have won three straight including against both the Jazz and the Warriors and had a number of big wins prior to the All-Star break.

The fifth-place Pelicans have been the most impressive of all as they’ve all of a sudden rattled off six consecutive wins. Many thought that with DeMarcus Cousins injured, the Pelicans would be the easiest team for the Jazz to catch in the West, but instead they’re playing some of their best ball of the season.

In fourth and third place, respectively, reside the San Antonio Spurs and Minnesota Timberwolves. Although the Wolves could slip without Butler and while the Spurs have been inconsistent this year, I have a hard time seeing the Jazz, who are currently five games back of the fourth spot, realistically catching either of these two.

But when viewing the recent success of the likes of LA, Denver, Portland and New Orleans, it’s pretty easy to see why the Jazz haven’t been able to advance in the standings, especially since they’ve lost two of three since the All-Star break. In other words, if Utah is to have any hope of making the playoffs, at this point it’s pretty clear that not only are they going to need to start to play better, but they’re also going to need some help provided by the teams above them slipping.

Luckily, each of them have a harder remaining schedule than the Utah Jazz, meaning that slippage could very well come in the not-so-distant future. Then again, based on some of their recent impressive wins over top teams, they could very well continue to surprise us.

And if they do, that will mean that the Jazz will have to step up even further. The Jazz are favored in the vast majority of their upcoming games, but they’ll still need to play much better than they have thus far following the break if they hope to sneak back into the playoff mix.

Fortunately, they now have three days off before their next contest in which they’ll host the Minnesota Timberwolves who will be coming in on the second night of a back-to-back. If the Jazz can make some critical adjustments during that time off to then go on and right the ship and get back to their winning ways, they could very well string together yet another impressive streak that finally gets them in the playoff mix this time around.

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But, of course, as I’ve alluded to, they’ll need their closest competitors to help them out as well. Fortunately, the Jazz will have a chance to dramatically help themselves as well, as they still have the Pelicans, Clippers and Blazers all left on the schedule.

With 21 games left in the season for the Jazz, they have ample time to rise while their opponents have plenty of opportunity to fall, but the time to strike will be sooner rather than later. I have a feeling that in the next two to three weeks, we’ll have a pretty good idea of whether the Jazz are still afloat or if their playoff chances have all but drifted away, perhaps for good.