NBA Playoffs 2019: Utah Jazz could use some BLEEPING good karma

The basketball gods did not smile upon the Utah Jazz this week, but they could definitely make up for it when the 2019 NBA Playoffs tip.

You probably have better odds of winning the lottery than of going through what the Utah Jazz did this week. And they didn’t circumvent the math in a good way — not by a long shot.

Four games that they weren’t even involved in essentially doomed the Jazz band to an icky first-round playoff series match-up with James Harden and the Houston Rockets. If any of them had gone another way, we’re probably looking at an infinitely more palatable bout with the Portland Trail Blazers.

Instead, insanity prevailed in each case.

On Tuesday, the LA Lakers lost to the Blazers at the buzzer, while Harden and Co. blew a 15-point second-half lead to lose to OKC at the buzzer. One night later, the pesky T-Wolves blew an 11-point fourth-quarter edge to lose to the Denver Nuggets and the KANGZ watched a 28-point lead evaporate in losing to a Blazers crew that seemed to be actively trying to lose.

Blazers coach Terry Stotts played only six players all night, none of which had the name Lillard or McCollum on their backs, and they still managed to win.

As a result, Utah finds itself in the dirty doo-doo, which leads me to the following question — when will the Jazz’s good karma finally kick in?

I know, I’m going full-on fanboy rage here — fair warning: all logic is about to give way to complaining, conspiracy theory and mysticism — but they could really use the good vibes right about now.

And they’re definitely long overdue.

I mean, the Jazz helped create Showtime by dealing the Lakers the draft pick eventually used to draft Magic Johnson; that didn’t just change the league…it changed the game. They also allowed the Human Highlight Film to soar into legend and the record books by dealing Dominique Wilkins to the Atlanta Hawks.

You’re welcome, diehard hoops fans.

On the other side of the coin, they fell prey to multiple horrendous calls which allowed Michael Jordan to have his storybook ending with the Chicago Bulls during the 1998 NBA Finals — a series they likely win if not for the push-off on Bryon Russell, the Ron Harper shot clock non-call and the Howard Eisley shot clock phantom call in Game 6.

We’re still sweating those ones in the 801.

More recently, the Jazz were strung along for a year only to watch Gordon Hayward split in the worst way possible, waiting until virtually every viable replacement was off the market before penning his now-infamous piece (or peace-out!, as it were) for the Players’ Tribune.

As fans, we’ve also had to endure defensive (and offensive, really) superstar Rudy Gobert being perpetually overlooked for an All-Star spot by coaches that preach the importance defense on the daily, which says a lot more about them than Gobert. You made the man and his mother cry, you jerks!

And yet, the franchise marches on. No fuss, no muss; going about their business the right way with their eyes ever on the prize. Along the way, they rock it in the community, they eschew a revenue-generating ad patch in favor of repping a cancer charity and they take the hard-line stance against racist dickheads.

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They’re cool on the court, too. The current iteration of the Jazz — the guys lacing up the sneakers for the 82-plus game grind — are about as likable, as humble, as thoughtful and as real a group as you’ll find in the Association.

Those guys didn’t deserve the madness that happened over the final two days of the regular season. And they definitely don’t deserve to get shellacked by the Rockets in Round 1 after winning 50 games and boasting the league’s best defense again this season.

Basketball gods, you didn’t smile on my team this week. But you can still make it up to me by doing so beginning this weekend with postseason play.

In the words of Jean-Luc Picard, MAKE IT SO! If you don’t, you’ll get no more prayers from this Jazz fan.

At least not until free agency starts.

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