Utah Jazz Week Five Outlook: Familiar foes on the road

The Utah Jazz hit the road in Week Five in what should be a challenging but thrilling four-game slate of action.

The Utah Jazz had a dismal Week Three which saw them drop all three contests and fall below .500. Fortunately, they were able to bounce back significantly in Week Four by going 2-1. The week started out on a low note when the Jazz fell to the Kawhi Leonard-less Toronto Raptors while Donovan Mitchell sat out with an ankle injury. But they returned to form in the second game by defeating the Dallas Mavericks, then earned an impressive win over Gordon Hayward and the Boston Celtics.

Utah’s defense looked as good as it has all year in the victory over Dallas, and against the Celtics, Utah played excellently save for allowing some complacency to slip in during the fourth quarter. Overall, the Jazz were stifling defensively and benefited from a well-rounded offensive attack that featured each of their starters and leading bench player Jae Crowder finishing in double figures.

I was a little too optimistic in my predictions for the Jazz last week, as I pinned them to bounce back in even greater fashion by going 3-0. In my defense, I had picked the win over Toronto assuming Kawhi wouldn’t play (which he didn’t) but without knowing that Mitchell would sit out. Excuses aside, though, I went an identical 2-1, putting my season projections record at 7-5.

If you thought things were going to get any easier for the Jazz at this early juncture, I’m afraid you were mistaken. It’s already been a tough schedule for the Jazz, but November and December continue to be brutal. The Jazz will now head out on a five-game road trip, with four of those games being played in Week Five. Oddly enough, despite having only played 12 games, the Jazz will face three opponents this week that they’ve already played.

Utah tips off the week on Monday against a foe that’s given them all kinds of troubles so far this year – the Memphis Grizzlies. The Grizzlies have over-performed thus far, and have easily handled the Jazz on two occasions already. Utah will look to reverse that recent trend in a big way in this upcoming bout.

From there, the Jazz travel to face a team on Wednesday that has had the exact opposite result against them – the Dallas Mavericks. Utah has already pummeled the lowly Mavs twice on the season, and will look to do the same in this third matchup. After that, the Jazz go on to Philadelphia to take on the 76ers on Friday. The Sixers will be a new-look team now that they’ve welcomed Jimmy Butler to the fold. More on that in a moment.

Last of all, the Jazz end the week on Saturday on the second night of a back-to-back to play none other than Gordon Hayward and the Boston Celtics yet again. We’ll see if Gordon can have a bounce-back game against his former squad that just beat him and if with Kyrie Irving in action this time around, the C’s can be more prolific.

That’s a tough four games, especially against foes that have already gained familiarity with the Jazz. Without further ado, let’s take a more in-depth look at each matchup.