Utah Jazz: A Way-Too-Early Look at Potential Playoff Match-Ups

While the playoffs are still a ways off, it’s never too early to speculate who the Utah Jazz could potentially face in the first round of what should be their first postseason appearance in five years.

Although the Utah Jazz haven’t looked nearly as formidable lately as they were beginning to make fans believe they would be in the earlier part of the season, with a 30-19 record on the year and a solid hold of fifth place in the West, there’s plenty to be excited and optimistic about for this up-and-coming squad.

They’re currently in a great spot in the standings as they enjoy a somewhat comfortable game and a half lead over the sixth place Thunder and are just a half-game behind the fourth place Clippers, meaning that their chances of moving up are pretty solid, especially given that the Clippers will face the Warriors, Celtics and Raptors in three of their upcoming four games.

And although Utah has struggled immensely against some of the top teams in either conference, they’ve been much better this year at beating inferior teams and therefore have built up their formidable record.

Considering that as well as the fact that eighth place in the West is a long ways down with the Nuggets sitting 7.5 games behind the Jazz, barring an unforeseen collapse of monumental proportions, Utah should be well on their way to the playoffs for the first time since 2012.

The real questions that remain now are where will they finish in the West and which potential first-round playoff match-up would be the most favorable for them. Given the fact that falling to the eighth seed and taking on the Warriors in the first round seems pretty near impossible at this point, I’m going to rule that match-up out in this analysis.

However, seeds four through seven all seem quite possible for the Jazz to finish and while one or two are essentially out of the question, you never know if Utah will get hot and/or Houston will slump and they could somehow sneak into that third spot.

But regardless of whether or not that happens (and I seriously doubt it will) here’s a look at what we could expect from a potential first-round match-up for the Utah Jazz against each plausible Western Conference foe.