Utah Jazz to catch break in early bouts versus Clippers with PG on the mend

The Utah Jazz will catch a bit of a break in their early season slate as Paul George is likely to be out for both initial contests between the Jazz and LA Clippers.

The Utah Jazz have high expectations heading into the 2019-20 season. As clearly evidenced throughout media day, this team firmly believes that it can compete for a championship. Therefore, while the Jazz know they play in a deep and challenging conference, there’s not a single team that strikes fear into their hearts or that they don’t believe they can beat.

Nevertheless, any stroke of luck or bit of help along the way that could very well prove significant to their final seeding preparing for the playoffs will be welcome. And though it’s under a bit of unfortunate circumstances, it appears that the Jazz will indeed catch a significant break early in the season.

The Jazz have a tough early start to their schedule that features a host of daunting teams right out of the gate. Two of those contests include showdowns against the current West favorite LA Clippers. However, that is wherein the Jazz will catch their bit of a break, as it appears that Paul George will certainly miss the first and likely both matchups.

The former Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers star had to undergo a pair of shoulder surgeries this offseason to repair an issue that severely plagued him throughout the end of the 2018-19 season. In fact, George was playing at an MVP-level for the Thunder prior to suffering the setback. Ultimately, he was unable to close the season strong and saw his OKC squad quickly defeated in the first round of the playoffs by the Portland Trail Blazers.

Nevertheless, he’s still an incredible talent on both sides of the ball that while paired alongside Kawhi Leonard and a deep Clippers roster should make for a terrifying sight. But, he’s far from one hundred percent and won’t be in action to start the year.

According to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne, George will for sure miss all of preseason as well as the regular season games in October. He’s eyeing a November return, but even that specific date is quite unclear. George himself had the following to say on the matter:

"“I will be out of the preseason. As of now, I’ll be out of October fully, but who knows? We’ll see. In the November range is our target date.”"

The ‘November range’ as he put it doesn’t sound like November 1st is all that likely, and it’s probable that he won’t make his return until later in the month.

The Jazz host the Clippers on October 30th in Salt Lake City, then are scheduled to face them at the Staples Center on November 3rd. Considering that second contest is so near the beginning of the month, and making presumptions off of George’s tone, it doesn’t sound like he’ll be available for that one either.

Therefore, two of Utah’s four contests against the Clippers could very well be against a far less than full strength team. The Clips were a solid squad last year before adding Kawhi. With Leonard set to be in action, they’ll be even scarier. But until both PG and the Klaw are suited up in tandem, we won’t know just how deadly of a squad they can be. The Jazz will have to wait until their third meeting against LA – a December 28th battle in Los Angeles – to see that (assuming both teams are healthy at that point).

In other words, while October 30th and November 3rd were two dates that Jazz fans almost certainly had circled on their calendars, they won’t bear quite as much weight now. A win will still be important, especially if seeding comes down to the wire, but now a victory will almost be expected since the Clips will be missing their second best player for those bouts.

This is particularly disappointing for Utah Jazz fans that were anxious to see Joe Ingles go head-to-head with Paul George, considering the intriguing battles they had in the 2018 NBA Playoffs while George still played for OKC. Factor in that Ingles always seems to play with extra juice against the Clippers – the team that spurned him in his first NBA try – and it could have been an awesome couple of contests.

Instead, the Jazz will likely have a significant edge in those early two battles and will have to look forward to December 28th for the real fight to take place. From there, the two teams won’t meet again until a late-season contest on April 7th at which point seeding may be set and there could be little at stake to play for.

Even if that ends up the case, don’t be surprised if these two teams wind up facing one another come playoff time. If Paul George makes a smooth recovery and can get back to how he was playing during his MVP-caliber moments from a season ago, then his pairing with Kawhi is going to be a frightening sight to behold for the entire league.

The Utah Jazz may be getting lucky in the first two contests against the LA Clippers, but don’t be surprised if every one from that point on is an absolute dog fight.