The Utah Jazz have an ideal chance to go on a nice run up the Western Conference standings with a light slate in Week 24 of NBA action.
Things went pretty much just as I suspected they would in Week 23 for the Utah Jazz. Overall, they looked exceptional. But a crafty Atlanta Hawks team and the back end of a back-to-back in the midst of a lengthy road trip proved to be too much for them as they suffered just one blemish in four contests. Utah went 3-1 with wins over the Washington Wizards, New York Knicks and Chicago Bulls.
With that mark, Utah moved to 43-30 on the season while with my 4-0 projection mark, I moved up to 45-28. With the West so tightly contested, especially among seeds 5-8, every win is crucial for the Jazz moving forward if they hope to secure a good seed in the 2019 NBA Playoffs.
As such, this upcoming Week 24 will be a massively important one for the Jazz. They’ll play the first three games of a four-game home stand during the week with an opportunity to build on their streak of six wins in seven games and then ideally surge up the standings from there. The Jazz currently find themselves tied with the sixth-place OKC Thunder, a half-game behind the fifth-place LA Clippers and a tough but attainable 2.5 games behind the fourth-place Portland Trail Blazers.
With that backdrop, Utah faces the opportunity to have a big statement week if they can defend home court in Week 24 and earn a trio of victories. Each team they face is certainly beatable as they’ll start off the week on Monday against the lowly Phoenix Suns, then host the recently playoff-eliminated Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday, then wrap up the week on Friday against the Washington Wizards who they just pummeled a week ago.
The Jazz are undoubtedly the favorite in each of those contests, but the question of whether or not they can actually come through is another matter. Let’s break down each bout and see how the Jazz’s odds appear.