Utah Jazz in the chase for high playoff seed
Last night the Western Conference had its own internal battle between the Denver Nuggets and Dallas Mavericks. While for weeks it had been intuitive to cheer for the Mavericks to lose so the Jazz could catch them in the standings, this time I was hoping for them to win.
A Dallas win would have made the second seed in the Western Conference only a half game out of Utah’s reach. Instead, the Nuggets won and kept the second seed all to themselves for another day. The good news is this further solidifies the gap between the Jazz and Mavericks, pushing Dallas closer to the territory of the Oklahoma City Thunder and the seventh seed.
As of this morning, the Jazz are only one game back of the second seed. All the Jazz need is for Denver to lose against one of their upcoming opponents, and Utah can catch up to them with a win against the Hornets.
The Nuggets have two back-to-back sets approaching fast, and the Rockets will play their second game in two days later tonight.
The Los Angeles Clippers have the easiest schedule of the bunch, and by the end of next week I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Jazz and Clippers controlling the second and third seeds in the conference.
In case it wasn’t clear before, it should be clear now that Utah is within reach of a playoff seed higher than fourth. Last time they accomplished such a feat was in the Karl Malone era.