Utah Jazz Need to Strike While the Iron’s Hot
With Dallas and Houston facing tough opponents ahead, the Utah Jazz have to make the most of their upcoming opportunities.
If ever there was a time for the Utah Jazz to make a playoff push, this would be that time.
Coming off of what was arguably their biggest win of the season, the team should have a little swagger in their step. The Jazz toppled the Eastern Conference leading Cleveland Cavaliers at Vivint Arena on Monday.
What made the game so impressive was that they pulled off the victory without the help of their leading scorer Gordon Hayward who sat the night out with plantar fasciitis. In his absence, Rodney Hood was an absolute monster, putting up 28 points on 9 of 16 shooting and Shelvin Mack was three rebounds shy of a triple-double putting up an impressive stat line of 17 points, 10 assists, and seven rebounds.
Unfortunately, while the Jazz came away with an unexpected victory, their competitors for the final playoff spot didn’t do them any favors that evening as both Houston and Dallas came away with wins as well.
However, both teams underwent a reversal of fortunes on Wednesday evening with Dallas falling short in a comeback bid against the Cavaliers and Houston being manhandled by the Los Angeles Clippers. With these losses, heading into Thursday’s games the Jazz find themselves just a game and a half behind both the Mavericks and Rockets for a playoff spot.
And looking at the Jazz’s next three games in comparison to the Mavericks’ and Rockets’ next three, these next few days will be a telling stretch in which Utah must strike while the iron’s hot.
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The Jazz’s next three games are at home against Phoenix on Thursday, then on the road against Chicago on Saturday and Milwaukee on Sunday. While a similar effort to the one that the Jazz put up against Cleveland would likely produce a 3-0 record over those three match-ups, it will be difficult to win two road games against opponents who despite not being powerhouses are still formidable.
Nevertheless, the Jazz should have a great chance to go 2-1 over the upcoming stretch.
Meanwhile, Dallas has the misfortune of having to play against the Golden State Warriors. While that isn’t a guaranteed loss, with how well Stephen Curry and Co. have played this season, it’s about the closest thing to it. The Mavericks then take on the Blazers in consecutive games. Those could honestly go either way. And while it’s not a stretch to suppose the Mavericks go 0-3 over the course of those three games, for this purpose let’s suppose they win one against the Blazers and go 1-2.
The Rockets have what will likely be an easy game against Minnesota before finding themselves with two tough road match-ups against the red hot Atlanta Hawks and the Oklahoma City Thunder. It would be no surprise to see Houston match Dallas’ 1-2 record over that stretch.
Then the fourth upcoming game for these three teams might just be the most critical for the Jazz’s playoff hopes. That’s because Houston and Utah will collide in a game that could likely determine who does and doesn’t qualify for the playoffs.
If the Jazz win that game and go 3-1 over their next four games while forcing Houston to go 1-3, then Utah will have passed them in the standings by a half a game. With those teams so close in the standings, there’s no telling just how important that contest might end up being.
Dallas’ fourth upcoming game will have them headed to Oakland to once again take on Golden State where the Warriors have yet to lose a game this season. That scenario means that Dallas’ upcoming record has 1-3 written all over it as well.
However in terms of where that will put them compared to Utah, it’s important to note that the Jazz play their fifth game (which unfortunately is against the Thunder) before the Mavericks go to Golden State.
Nevertheless, with both Dallas and Houston looking primed to go 1-3 over their next four games, it’s critical that the Jazz take advantage of the upcoming match-ups on the schedule.
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They’ll need to take care of business against the hapless Phoenix squad then find a way to go at least 1-1 against the Central Division foes. If everything comes together in this way, the Jazz could soon find themselves back in the driver’s seat and controlling their own playoff destiny.
All stats courtesy of NBA.com/stats