Utah Jazz: Assessing an unraveled team’s odds for postseason success
By Caleb Manser
Finals Teams
Most of these teams that made it to the NBA Finals this millennium were flawless and consistent as ever during the regular season. The only losing streaks came by virtue of injuries or a dense schedule of back-to-backs and such.
The most common “low point”, AKA longest losing streak for these teams was a simple three game losing streak. 19 of the 40 teams had a three game slide as their longest losing streak, and 11 of those teams went on to win the chip that year.
When we get to longer losing streaks, here is the skinny:
- Eight teams lost four consecutive games, only one of that group won the championship (the 2006 Miami Heat)
- Three teams lost five straight, and only one of them became a champion (the 2004 Detroit Pistons)
- Two teams lost six straight in the regular season, but made it to the Finals. One was a champ (the the 2011 Dallas Mavericks)
Assuming the Jazz can stop the bleeding in the next couple of games, they can keep their longest losing streak of the season at five games. That would put them on par with the 2004 Detroit Pistons and 2011 Miami Heat who both went on to the NBA Finals.
Is is reasonable for the Jazz to mimic either of those teams all the way into June? Most likely not since both of them came out of the weaker Eastern Conference with a high seed in the playoff bracket.
If this brings you any comfort, both the ’04 Pistons and ’11 Heat both had their five game skids happen in the month of February. These losing streaks are more excusable if they happen early in the season when the roster is still gelling, and more concerning when they happen in January or later.
The Pistons dropped their five straight from February 3-11, and the Heat had there slump happen February 27-March 8th. The odds are minuscule, but there’s still a slim chance we see the NBA Finals come to Salt Lake City this spring.