Utah Jazz: Assessing an unraveled team’s odds for postseason success
By Caleb Manser
Best teams to replicate
Finding an NBA team that had a slump like the Jazz and went on to become successful is like finding a needle in a haystack. It just doesn’t happen very often, and it’s not a good blueprint for success.
If the Jazz truly want an NBA championship, the most proven way is to acquire a bonafide superstar, AKA top five player in the world and surround him with a good supporting cast. The only time they’ve really had such a player is when they had Karl Malone in his prime.
But here are a couple of teams that stuck out to me during this research process:
2002-03 Detroit Pistons
This Pistons team was in their second year together as a core making it to the playoffs. The Jazz, with Mitchell and Gobert as their core, are gearing up for round three of that tenure, and the first year with Bojan Bogdanovic on board.
Detroit had its biggest regular season meltdowns near the end of the season, during the stretch run. They dropped seven straight – I repeat, SEVEN, from February 21st to March 2nd. After a nice 13 game run, they hit another bump in the road to lose four straight, at just the wrong time.
Teams were jockeying for position in the Eastern Conference, and I’m sure Pistons fans back then were irate that their team would dare drop four straight in the 11th hour of the regular season. They finished their final nine games 3-6, bad momentum heading into the playoffs.
When they got there though, they grinded out a seven game series win against the Orlando Magic, and proceeded to beat the Philadelphia 76ers in six games. They eventually got swept by the New Jersey Nets in the Eastern Conference Finals.
They rebounded from the poor slumps during the stretch run to be one of the final four teams standing, and the next year won the NBA championship.
2012-14 Indiana Pacers
This team reminds me of the current Utah Jazz in a couple of ways. Paul George was a budding star, and had made his fist All-Star game in his third year as a pro. They had 7-footer Roy Hibbert protecting the paint, anchoring one of the top defenses in the league.
They had already made the playoffs in George’s first two seasons, but never made it farther than the second round in that time. That would change in the 2012-13 season, when Indy was only one win away from making the NBA Finals.
Their road to the Conference Finals was anything but smooth. That season, they only won 49 games and had only the 20th best offensive rating in the league. They had three blips where they went on a three game losing streak, from November 5-9th, January 23-28th, and April 12-17th.
They failed to beat the Timberwolves with no Kevin Love or Ricky Rubio, they got blown out by the mediocre Portland Trail-Blazers, they got blown out by 20 points on back to back nights, and lost to two Eastern Conference rivals near them in the standings in the same week.
The following year, it was a tale of two halves. They went 40-12 before the All-Star break, but only finished 16-14 in the stretch run. They had a four game losing streak from March 4-9th, and during an eight game stretch went 2-6 from March 19-31st.
It’s not like this team was decimated with injuries or slammed in back-to-back sets. They had their biggest regular season downfalls during the stretch run when things should have been the most cohesive as a team.
Yet in both years this team found a way to gather themselves and play as a team when it mattered the most, making back-to-back Eastern Conference Finals appearances.
So what is there to conclude from this? The Jazz’s season is not crumbling to pieces, not yet at least. They still have six quick weeks to get their mojo back before the playoffs. If they are able to gather themselves quickly, they boast a rotation with seven starting caliber players.
Very few Western Conference rivals can match that talent depth, and nobody will want to face the Jazz in this year’s playoffs.