A win over the New Orleans Pelicans may have the Utah Jazz truly back on track

The Utah Jazz and New Orleans Pelicans are hours away from tipoff. The two squads are going to be meeting on a court in a city that both teams once called home. Long before the team was in Salt Lake City, the Jazz called New Orleans home; hence the nickname. Nicknames have been a sensitive topic for the franchise. After the Charlotte Bobcats got the rights back to the Hornets nickname, the then-New Orleans Hornets ended up becoming the Pelicans.

And really nothing has gone right since. They had stars like Chris Paul and Anthony Davis, but never really saw success with either player, and now they sport the duo of Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson. Williamson can't stay in shape, however, and has let his personal life descend into chaos.

The Jazz, on the other hand, are trying to turn around a season once thought to be lost. Winners of six of eight, and now 13-18 on the season, the Jazz are hoping that the turmoil the Pelicans are dealing with at the moment will be enough for the Salt Lake City crew to overcome the odds and get a much-needed road win. A win that gets them closer to the Play-In Tournament.

The Jazz have a shot to do just that. They're healthy and better organized. With the rotation finally taking shape around Lauri Markkanen, Collin Sexton, and Kris Dunn, with Walker Kessler and Kelly Olynyk being names that are in and out of the lineup depending on the matchups

The Jazz have also made the move to bench Keyonte George, Jordan Clarkson, and Talen Horton-Tucker in order to get more ball movement in the starting five and clearly better defense to start and finish games. The Jazz are a different team over the last eight games but for them to continue this run, they have got to beat better teams. Teams like the Pelicans. A win tonight would go a long way into making us believe this team is serious about making a playoff run.