Three HUGE questions facing the Utah Jazz (and some predictions)

Where will the Jazz finish in the West?

It wasn’t that long ago that the Jazz found themselves wildly under-performing and in second to last in the Western Conference. Some fans were ready to hit the panic button, while others realized the difficulty of their early schedule and the value of patience. While a lot could change between now and mid-April, the latter of those two approaches certainly appears to be the wiser.

Thanks to a six-game surge, the Jazz have now climbed all the way up to seventh place in the Western Conference, just two games behind the fourth-place Portland Trail Blazers who they just so happen to play this upcoming evening. With that being the case, you could make a strong argument that, despite the initial odds, the Jazz have a legit shot at still nabbing home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

That might be getting a bit too far ahead of ourselves considering that Utah’s latest streak has come largely against lackluster opponents, but in all honesty, with how much lighter their schedule is for the remainder of the year, it is certainly within the realm of possibilities. In looking at Utah’s schedule, particularly an incredibly light stretch from March 13 to April 7 where they could easily go an a huge run, I definitely predict they’ll end the season with at least 48 wins, if not more.

If they were to beat only the teams below them in the standings for the rest of the season and lose every other game, they’d still close out the year 24-11. Those 24 wins would put them right at 50-32 on the year. Sure, they’ll drop some of those games that you’d expect them to win, but I’m guessing they beat a few teams ahead of them in the standings as well, such as the Blazers or the Spurs, before season’s end.

Thus, when put that way, you can see how 24 wins out of the last 35 games feels quite manageable. Even with predicting the Jazz to get somewhere around 48-52 wins, that still doesn’t guarantee where they’ll end up finishing in the Western Conference standings. However, for a bit of reference, last season the 4-6 seeds all had 48 wins, while the third-seeded Blazers had 49. The year before that, the fourth and fifth seeds had 51 while the sixth had 47 and the third had 55.

So such a mark could very well have the Jazz anywhere between sixth and third in the West. As I mentioned, it’s truly anyone’s guess at this point, but my projection is that the Jazz will yet again end up with the fifth seed in the West with somewhere between 48 and 50 wins. It may not be the ideal outcome, but they’ve done well in the fifth seed the past two years, and considering how the year started, would certainly be a nice place to ultimately end up the year.