Now locked into the West’s No. 5 seed, the Utah Jazz wrap up their regular season slate with Danilo Gallinari and the LA Clippers, who desperately want a win.
With their big W over the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday, the Utah Jazz are officially set to enter the 2019 NBA Playoffs as a 50-game winner and the fifth seed in the Western Conference. That’s great news as long as they can avoid the Houston Rockets, who could drop to the 4/5 match-up if both the Nuggets (vs. Wolves) and Blazers (vs. Kings) win their season finales.
Although the brunt of Jazz fans’ attention will be focused on those games on Wednesday, the navy, gold and green crew have a finale of their own to play as they travel to Staples Center to take on a Los Angeles Clippers team that could still have something of their own to play for.
Depending on the outcome of the Spurs/Mavs and Thunder/Bucks affairs earlier in the night, the Clippers may be able to get the seventh seed and avoid a first-round date with the defending champion Golden State Warriors with a win over the Jazz. And it seems Jazz coach Quin Snyder is happy to oblige them.
In addition to Dante Exum, who is still recovering from right knee surgery, and Ricky Rubio, Kyle Korver and Raul Neto, who have missed games recently with various ailments, the Jazz will sit their “Big 3” of Donovan Mitchell, Rudy Gobert and Derrick Favors.
Clearly, that’s not a (regular season) winning strategy. Especially given the fact that the Clips will have a major arrow added to their quiver in Danilo Gallinari who, after missing a game with an ankle issue, will return to the court against the Jazz. Patrick Beverley (hip) will also be available to play.
Gallinari’s return in particular will make life hard on Jazz bigs that remain. As a floor-spacer, the 30-year-old’s efforts this season are in rarefied air.
In the history of the league, only nine players have put together seasons averaging 19 or more points on an effective field goal percentage over 55 while shooting more than 40 percent of their shots as 3-pointers. Gallinari is one of those players. If we isolate players 6-foot-9 and taller, that list shrinks to two — Gallinari and Peja Stojakovic.
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It makes you wonder what might have been if Gordon Hayward‘s departure had come in time for the Jazz to make a play for him. Ultimately, I’m not sweating it given Gallo’s lengthy injury history and the Jazz’s post-Hayward success, but it’s definitely something to ponder if you’re a glutton for punishment.
At any rate, despite this being Game 82 for the Jazz band, the other games are really the more important ones. I expect the motivated Clippers to beat a resting and depleted Jazz squad with relative ease at home, and that’s A-OK. Utah’s big guns are get some much-need rest in advance of posteason play and members of the B and C-teams will get their opportunity to earn some playoff minutes.
Now we just need the rest of the West to cooperate.
Prediction: LA Clippers win 112 -98.
If you’re not too busy watching the other games that matter to the Jazz, tip-off for this game is at 8:30 PM MT and will be broadcast on ESPN. Follow along with the live game discussion in the comment thread below… and go Kings?