Utah Jazz Week 16 Outlook: Jazz face tough test vs. familiar foes

Week 16 will provide the Utah Jazz with a big challenge and an even bigger opportunity as they’ll face two teams ahead of them in the standings.

Although Week 15 was much harder than the stretch in which the Utah Jazz went on a six-game winning streak, they still performed quite admirably. Yes, they suffered a disappointing loss to the Portland Trail Blazers that came largely due to an atrocious third quarter, but other than that they were nearly flawless, going 3-0 in the other trio of contests to close the week.

The 3-1 overall mark for the week resulted in the Jazz moving up to 29-22 on the season. Due to how hot the rest of the West has been, even that spurt has Utah still in seventh in the West, but they’re tied with the San Antonio Spurs and only two games out of fourth place. Considering how easy the rest of their schedule is, they’re still in a great spot to continue to climb.

Although the Jazz went 3-1 last week, I went just 1-3 in my projections. I correctly picked the win over Minnesota in Salt Lake City but was off on each of the other three contests’ results. That slump has me dead even with the Jazz on the year once again at 29-22.

Week 16 will be a crucial one for the Jazz considering that they’ll face two of the teams ahead of them in the standings – the Portland Trail Blazers and the Houston Rockets. If it feels like the Jazz have seen a lot of the Blazers of late, you’re not mistaken. This week will feature the fourth and final contest against them, and each game has been played in the span of just over a month.

Utah will begin the week against them on Wednesday in Portland, coming in off ample rest. From there, they’ll return home to host the Atlanta Hawks. One would likely think this to be an easy victory, but the scrappy young Hawks have played relatively well of late and had Utah’s number last year, so the Jazz can’t be caught unaware. Finally, the Jazz will wrap up the week on Saturday in the back end of a back-to-back against the Houston Rockets.

Just as was the case with Portland, this will be Utah’s final meeting against the Rockets. In both series, Utah leads 2-1, so each will be monumentally important both for Utah’s continued climb up the standings and in potential tiebreakers come season’s end.

Aside from Friday’s game against the Hawks, the Jazz face some familiar and daunting foes in Week 16. Let’s break each contest down a little further as we aim to project just how they’ll fare.