Utah Jazz: Next 11 games will be vital to playoff hopes

If the Utah Jazz are to have any hope of making the playoffs, they’ll need to capitalize on a relatively light 11-game stretch that begins tonight.

The Utah Jazz had been red hot prior to the All-Star break, but since then, there’s no denying that some of the previous excitement has died down in a pretty substantial way. Rather than returning to action after the break and extending the streak, the Jazz have instead gone 1-2 and have looked pretty flat-footed in all three bouts, including the lone win over the lowly Dallas Mavericks.

As my J-Notes colleague John Keeffer mentioned earlier today, Utah’s lazy turnovers and putrid three-point shooting have caused them to struggle to regain the prior momentum that they had during the win streak. And as Utah still finds themselves two games out of the playoffs with just 21 games remaining, they’ll need to reverse that trend right away, hopefully beginning with tonight’s home contest against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

And quite frankly, the upcoming stretch that the Jazz face could very well make or break their playoff chances entirely. Their next 11 games are all very much winnable, and how they fare during that slate of contests could see them surge up the standings or fall out of the running entirely. Here’s a look at what that next set of games looks like beginning with tonight’s bout:

• 3/2 vs. Minnesota
• 3/3 at Sacramento
• 3/5 vs. Orlando
• 3/5 at Indiana
• 3/9 vs. Memphis
• 3/11 at New Orleans
• 3/13 vs. Detroit
• 3/15 vs. Phoenix
• 3/17 vs. Sacramento
• 3/20 vs. Atlanta
• 3/22 at Dallas

Along with this evening’s game against Minnesota, the road contest in Indiana is also going to be a tough one even though the Pacers, much like the Jazz, have come out of the All-Star break slow. They’ve gone 1-2 after losing two straight to the hapless Dallas Mavericks and Atlanta Hawks, but are still extremely dangerous at home. Then, although the Detroit Pistons aren’t in the playoff mix right now, they could certainly present the Jazz with some challenges.

But the game that stands out the most is without a doubt the March 11 contest against the New Orleans Pelicans. At one point during Utah’s 11-game winning streak, many presumed that the Pelicans would be the team that the Jazz were most likely to catch up to. Instead, they’ve become one of the hottest teams in the league by rattling off seven consecutive victories to pull a whopping four games ahead of Utah in the standings.

Their next 11 games are pretty challenging, though, as they’ll face the likes of the Washington Wizards, San Antonio Spurs, Houston Rockets, Boston Celtics, Indiana Pacers and of course the Utah Jazz. With rough times potentially ahead for the Pels and a relatively easy schedule during the next stretch for the Jazz, that head-to-head battle could turn out to be a decisive one, especially since a Jazz win would clinch the tiebreaker over New Orleans.

The rest of those games are entirely winnable, though, and Utah should be expected as the clear favorite in all seven of them considering that the teams they’ll face in those games are the bottom two teams in the East and bottom four teams in the West. If Utah can’t come out on top against the teams that are tanking (covertly or otherwise), they’ll be in bad shape.

In short, the Jazz have an incredible opportunity to climb up the standings with some easy games ahead. And if they can beat the teams with better records than them during said stretch, such as the Wolves, Pacers and Pelicans, they could do some major damage in the standings to their Western Conference foes.

But after these 11 games, the schedule gets hard for the Jazz once more as they’ll take on seven teams with winning records in 10 games, including the Golden State Warriors twice, the San Antonio Spurs, the Boston Celtics and the red hot Portland Trail Blazers.

In other words, the Jazz have ground to make up as it is, then will likely face some struggles closing out the season’s final 10 games, meaning that this much lighter 11-game stretch will be absolutely vital.

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In fact, their record in these next 11 games may very well determine whether or not they remain in the playoff conversation before the season even comes to an end. Another 11-game win streak would sure be nice, but if Utah can at least go 8-3 or 9-2, they should still be a manageable spot.

Regardless of how they fare in the next few weeks, it’s bound to be quite the epic fight to the finish line in a crowded and competitive Western Conference. Hopefully once the dust settles after this upcoming 11-game stretch, the Jazz will finally find themselves inside the West’s Top 8 for the first time since very early in the season.