Golden State won’t rest healthy players against Utah Jazz

The Utah Jazz will be in for a daunting challenge when they face the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday as it appears that all their healthy stars will suit up for the contest.

The ever-so-tight playoff race in the Western Conference just got a little tighter on Monday night. The Portland Trail Blazers fell to the Denver Nuggets, keeping them at 48 wins, while the Oklahoma City Thunder, San Antonio Spurs and New Orleans Pelicans all won their respective games to clinch playoff berths and move up to 47 wins.

That means that plenty of shuffling could still take place for seeds 3-7 while the eighth seed will come down to the winner of an epic showdown between the Minnesota Timberwolves and Denver Nuggets on Wednesday in what will essentially be a play-in game for postseason qualification.

The Utah Jazz find themselves in fourth place as part of the jumbled mess atop the conference, however, they control their own destiny for earning the third seed in the West and clinching home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. All they have to do is win both of their final two games. Easy, right? Unfortunately, not quite.

The Jazz’s first remaining game takes place Tuesday night against the Golden State Warriors, then if they win that one, they’ll go on to have a battle for the third seed against the Portland Trail Blazers the very next day.

The showdown against Golden State will be anything but easy, though. While many fans had hopes that the Warriors, who are already solidified in the two-seed slot, would rest some of their starters for what will likely be an inconsequential bout, it appears that such won’t be the case.

The Warriors’ injury report includes Stephen Curry, Damian Jones, Andre Iguodala and Patrick McCaw, all of whom were already presumed to be out while dealing with lingering injuries, but the rest of their three All-Stars – Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green – are nowhere to be found on the list.

To make matters even clearer, Drew Shiller, co-host of Warriors Outsiders, tweeted that all three will be playing against Utah, which the Salt Lake Tribune’s Tony Jones later confirmed as well:

In other words, it appears Utah will be receiving no favors from the Warriors, as they’ll be rolling out their most formidable players that are healthy. Of course, fellow All-Star and former MVP Steph Curry will miss the bout, so the team is far from full-strength, but they’ll still undoubtedly be a tough out.

Nevertheless, even with those three in action, the Warriors haven’t looked quite as formidable without their starting point guard of late. They recently lost to both the Pelicans and Indiana Pacers in a pair of games in which Durant, Thompson and Green were all active.

Hopefully the Jazz, who have won two out of three contests against the Warriors this season including a 129-99 blowout victory over a healthy Golden State squad back in January, will be able to take advantage of Curry’s absence and come away with a big win in this bout that will be critical for their playoff seeding.

If Utah is to earn home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs, it’s practically a necessity that they win out beginning with Tuesday night’s showdown against Golden State. With the Warriors rolling out their best available players, the Jazz will need to play extremely well if they are to do so.

However, although Durant, Green and Thompson will all be playing in the contest, it is entirely possible that head coach Steve Kerr will decide to be cautious with them and only play his stars for limited minutes. Especially considering that Golden State’s playoff seed has already been solidified, they don’t have a ton at stake in the contest and they may find it best to take it easy with their key guys.

That’s largely what they did last season in an end-of-year bout against Utah in which the Jazz arose victorious, thanks largely to the fact that a Warriors team bored with the regular season cut back on the minutes of its stars. If they do so again, then I like Utah’s chances of coming out on top.

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The Jazz and Warriors tip-off at 7:00 PM MT within Vivint Smart Home arena in the final game of the year for Golden State and the second-to-last game for the Utah Jazz.