Utah Jazz aim to keep up unbelievable success against Detroit

Can the Utah Jazz continue their mind-blowing dominance over the Detroit Pistons that they’ve maintained for the past 13 years?

Interestingly enough, the Utah Jazz have simply had the Detroit Pistons’ number over the years. Not only has Utah won four straight against them with two of those coming by over 30 points, but Utah is also 21-4 against the Pistons since 2005-06. That included an 11-game losing streak for the Pistons against Utah from the 2005-06 season to the first game of 2010-11.

As highlighted by J-Notes alum Taylor Griffin in the tweet below, that 21-4 mark against Detroit is Utah’s best record against any opponent during that stretch. The Jazz have also managed to hold the Pistons under 100 points in eight consecutive games, which is an amazing mark in and of itself as well. To top it off, the Jazz are 61-35 over the Pistons all-time.

Therefore, with such details being the case, it’s quite clear that the Utah Jazz have matched up unbelievably well with the Pistons. So the question that stands is, can they do it again this year?

The Pistons have been as up and down as they typically tend to be as they sit at 17-19 on the season, good for ninth place in the lackluster Eastern Conference. At times they’ve looked solid under new head coach Dwane Casey, but largely they’ve struggled to put together the pieces. They boast a tremendous frontcourt duo of Blake Griffin and Andre Drummond but outside of those two, their starting backcourt and supporting cast leave quite a bit to be desired.

Rudy Gobert, Derrick Favors and Jae Crowder will certainly have their hands full with that pair of giants, but they’ve also enjoyed relative success against them in years past. If this game were being played on a perfectly level playing field and under normal circumstances, I’d expect the Jazz to continue to assert their dominance and easily dispatch the Pistons.

However, due to an unfortunate scheduling situation, this will be far from a level playing field. The Jazz will be suiting up for this contest less than 24 hours after taking the court on Friday in Cleveland with a flight over to Detroit and a late arrival in between. Meanwhile, the Pistons will be as fresh as they could be, as they’re coming in off of two days of rest to defend their home court.

Between the unbalanced rest periods and the fact that the Jazz are on the road, I could see this being a tough one for them. We’ll have to see which trend wins out – the one of their historical dominance over Detroit, or the one of tired legs versus well-rested legs.

I originally projected the Jazz to arise victorious due to the favorable matchup they’re facing, but I also fully recognize that this bout will present quite a challenge due to the unfortunate scheduling circumstances. Nevertheless, if this team is truly going to turn things around and display that they deserve to be in playoff contention, this is exactly the kind of game they’ll have to gut out and win.

Utah has shown an apparent aversion to returning to a .500 mark after blowing several opportunities to do so in recent weeks, so that makes this contest a little scary as well. Now back at just a game below .500, the Jazz have an exceptional opportunity to finally reach that goal. However, a loss would put them back at two games below .500 with a frightening contest against the East-leading Milwaukee Bucks looming.

Last season, the Jazz used an incredible overtime win in Detroit to jumpstart their amazing streak into the postseason and essentially save their season. Will they be able to do so again on Saturday night? Tune in at 5:00 PM MT to find out.