The Utah Jazz have a great opportunity to keep their current win streak alive with a quite manageable three-game stint in Week 14.
After weeks of struggling to get to .500, the Utah Jazz are finally two games above that mark at 23-21 on the year. Now winners of three straight and five of their last six, the Jazz are beginning to look like their old selves despite the inconvenience that has been caused by a renewed bout of injuries. Nevertheless, in the absence of the likes of Ricky Rubio, Dante Exum and Raul Neto, the Jazz still rattled off three straight wins in Week 13 following Monday’s loss to the Milwaukee Bucks.
The disappointing loss in Milwaukee was the lone blemish of the week save for an ugly first half against Orlando, which the Jazz were able to overcome to get that first win of the week before toppling both the Los Angeles Lakers and Chicago Bulls this weekend. I managed to correctly predict the outcome of each game this past week, moving my projections record to 25-19.
Utah will continue to face the tall task of keeping their heads above water with so many injured players out of commission, but nevertheless they have a great opportunity to continue their electrifying win streak in Week 14. They’ll start the three-game slate off on Monday at home against Detroit, a team they recently toppled in comeback fashion on the road.
From there, they’ll play a single road game in LA against the Clippers on Wednesday in what could be an important bout for playoff positioning before finishing up the week back home on Friday against the lowly Cleveland Cavaliers. The Jazz currently find themselves just a half-game out of eighth place in the West and only 2.5 games out of fifth place, so a successful run in Week 14 could result in a further surge up the standings.
Let’s break down each game one by one and see just how probable such a surge might be.