Utah Jazz vs. Atlanta Hawks: Jazz seek 10th straight win before road trip

The Utah Jazz will look to close out their home stand on a high note by logging a tenth straight win as they host the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday.

Life has taken a dramatic turn for the Utah Jazz over the past two months. After formerly appearing doomed to the lottery at nine games under .500 and facing a seemingly downward trajectory, the Jazz have since won 21 of 23 games to find themselves in fifth place in the Western Conference.

That impressive stretch included an 11-game winning streak leading up to the All-Star break and they’ve now strung together another nice run of nine consecutive victories as they look to hold their ground in the Wild West and potentially move up even further. They’ll be putting that all on the line on Tuesday night as they host the Atlanta Hawks in the final game of a four-game home stand before heading out on a tough three-game road trip that will begin Thursday in Dallas.

So Tuesday’s game will be important for the Jazz as they look to maintain their current trajectory, gather more momentum to take into their upcoming road trip and so they can avenge a painful loss to the Atlanta Hawks earlier in the season.

The last time these two teams met, it felt like rock bottom for the Jazz. Utah lost by 14 points to the lowly Atlanta Hawks to slide to 19-28 on the season. Sure, that defeat seemingly helped them get their act together and springboard into what has been an exhilarating season since then, but there’s no denying that for those 48 minutes, it was an extremely ugly affair.

The Jazz managed to keep it close for most of the first half and even took a brief lead in the third quarter. However, rather than capitalize and fight back for the win, the Jazz rolled over and were ultimately stomped in the second half as the Hawks got up by as many as 26 and ultimately outscored Utah by 13.

Atlanta won the battle of the boards, out-shot the Jazz significantly and simply outplayed Utah the entire night. Perhaps most discouraging was Utah’s three-point shooting as they converted on just four of a measly 15 attempts. The Jazz and Hawks are nearly identical in terms of three-point percentage – Utah is 11th and Atlanta is 13th with a mere .1 percent separating the two – so Utah will need to find a way to win the battle in that area.

Despite all the things the Jazz have done well in their current nine-game winning streak, three-point shooting hasn’t been one of them as they’re converting on just 34.5 percent of their attempts, which is the third worst mark in the league during that stretch. Meanwhile, the Hawks have been the third best three-point shooting team in the league during that span at 39.8 percent. The Jazz will likely need to see a major reversal in those two trends to ensure a victory.

On the bright side, while Utah’s three-point shooting hasn’t been great, they’ve been able to defend the perimeter extremely well on the opposite end of the court, holding opponents to an even worse 33.5 percent clip. Defense has been the backbone of Utah’s incredible surge, so it comes as little surprise that preventing opposing teams from finding success from deep has been a prominent key to the winning streak.

And although the Jazz struggled in Atlanta, I have hard time seeing them falling into the same woes they did then. Utah has been much more focused lately and quite frankly looks like an entirely different team. They know what’s at stake night in and night out as they seek to continue to climb the standings and clinch a spot in the 2018 NBA Playoffs. They were embarrassed in Atlanta last time around and will be sure to want to send a message in this rematch bout.

Considering that Atlanta is a dismal 5-28 on the road for the season, the worst mark in the league, I would be shocked to see them pull it together for Tuesday’s contest within the hostile environment of Vivint Smart Home Arena. The Hawks have knocked off some good teams this year, including in the aforementioned contest against the Jazz, but they’re still incredibly outmatched talent-wise, have been horrible on the road and have no momentum as losers of six straight.

As long as the Jazz play with energy and execute their game plan as well has they have during the past nine games, this one should result in a lopsided victory for the home team.

My Prediction – Jazz 115, Hawks 91

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The Utah Jazz and Atlanta Hawks will tip-off at 7:00 PM MT on Tuesday before Utah heads out on a three-game road trip that begins against the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday at 6:30 PM MT.