The Utah Jazz are in for a tough final few weeks. The team has gone through their last easy portion of the schedule and now will have to contend with a Murder's Row of squads, who are looking to feast on the pathetic play of the Jazz this season. The squad has to deal with nine teams, all looking for playoff positioning to some degree.
First, the team has the San Antonio Spurs, who is their last best chance to get a win on.
After that, it's the Houston Rockets, who are currently 36-35. After them are the Sacramento Kings (42-30), the Cleveland Cavaliers (44-28), The Los Angeles Clippers (44-27), the Gold State Warriors (37-34), The Denver Nuggets (51-21), before restarting the cycle somewhat and having another showdown with the Rockets, Clippers and Warriors to close out the season.
After the NBA Trade Deadline, the Jazz seemed to be able to get to 35 wins at least, if not more, but since the deadline, the team has been dead last in defense and has an NBA-worst record of 3-16. The odds aren't great that they get to 30 wins, not with how disastrously the post-deadline run has been.
It's very likely that the Jazz lose nine straight against those teams, with only the Spurs being a team that may put up some kind of fight. Yet, it's very possible the Jazz go 3-26 at worst or maybe 4-25 at best during the final stretch of the season.
The teams they're facing all have reasons to play harder and better than the Jazz. The Rockets are trying to get into the Play-In tournament, while the Warriors are trying to fend them off. While it seems unlikely the Warriors get into the playoffs proper without the Play-In, the Kings are only one game out of the playoff's sixth seed and are going to do everything possible to get into the Top 6.
The Clippers are also on the verge of falling out of the playoffs and into the Play-In tournament, rocking a two and a half game lead over the Kings.
The Nuggets are trying to fend off the Oklahoma City Thunder for first place in the West and home-court advantage.
The Cavs, currently in third, want the Central Division crown and the second seed in the playoffs. They can't do that if they lose down the stretch.
The Jazz don't have anything of meaning to play for, making it very likely they lose at least nine straight games.