Utah Jazz: Three pros and cons of loss to Nuggets

Here are three pros and three cons from the Utah Jazz in their latest loss to the depleted Denver Nuggets.

The Utah Jazz were oh so close to snapping their losing streak. A win would have put them only a game back of the Denver Nuggets for the third seed in the Western Conference standings, and would have evened the season series at one game apiece.

Instead, the Jazz are gonna have to make up ground with a not so friendly schedule.

The worst part of it? Denver was on the back end of a back to back with a walking wounded roster. Only seven players were healthy enough to play, and since the league requires that teams dress eight for the game, they suited up the injured Paul Millsap just to meet league standards.

This was an absolute must-win for the Jazz, and they blew it. With a Clippers win also happening last night, Utah is quickly slipping out of position for the second or third seed in the playoff bracket, which is critical for their hopes of advancing to the Western Conference Finals.

It’s looking clearer every day that the fourth seed is going to end up in Utah’s possession, and we will be staring at a gnarly first round matchup with the small-ball Houston Rockets.

If by some miracle the Jazz get past Houston, they will most likely have to face the Los Angeles Lakers in the second round. I’m not going to sugar coat it, the Lakers have flicked the Jazz like a booger in their two meetings this season.

However, there are still 32 games of basketball left to be played, and Utah has a chance to make me eat crow. It’s only fair to acknowledge the positives as well as the negatives in such a close loss like last night’s.

Here are three pros and three cons from the latest heart breaker in Vivint Arena.