Utah Jazz have stormed onto the Western Conference playoff scene

With the 2017-18 regular season winding down, the Utah Jazz are making a late postseason push and have found themselves storming onto the playoff scene.

With the Western Conference playoff picture heating up as we near the end of the 2017-18 NBA regular season, a handful of teams are vying for their spot in the postseason.

Entering what will be an entertaining home stretch of the season, yet another team has emerged from the bottom of the pack and has a legitimate shot at claiming one of the final spots in the stacked playoff picture out West.

That team is none other than the Utah Jazz.

The Jazz enter Monday’s slate of NBA games sitting tied with the Denver Nuggets for ninth place in the Western Conference standings, having played some great basketball in the second half of the year.

Utah has stormed onto the playoff scene as of late, adding another team to the mix in what has become a very tight race for basically eight teams in the West playoff picture.

Following another big win over a Western Conference opponent on Sunday afternoon, topping the New Orleans Pelicans in New Orleans, the Jazz have now won six straight games. Utah is also winners of 18 of their previous 20 games dating back to the end of January.

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Utah, which holds a record of 37-30 on the season, is very much in a place where it can make a serious playoff push, trailing the San Antonio Spurs and the No. 7 seed by a half-game, while sitting 1.5 games back of obtaining the No. 4 seed and are even 3.5 games behind the Portland Trail Blazers and the No. 3 seed in the West.

A few things that could work in Utah’s favor as the final month of the regular season concludes and the playoff race heats up is its remaining schedule and where those games are being played.

In the 15 games left in the season for the Jazz, nine of those contests will come in front of their home crowd at Vivint Smart Home Arena. Utah holds a record of 21-11 when they play in Salt Lake City this year. The Jazz are also playing well on the road, especially as of late, having won 11 straight away from their home court.

Among the remaining 15 games for one of the hottest teams in the NBA, eight of those games will come against teams whose records are below .500. That includes the likes of the Detroit Pistons, Phoenix Suns, Sacramento Kings, Atlanta Hawks, Memphis Grizzlies and Los Angeles Lakers (twice). All but one of those games are at home, by the way.

About a handful of Utah’s other games, however, will come against some tough competition. The Jazz will have to face potentially high-end playoff teams such as the Spurs, Minnesota Timberwolves, Trail Blazers and Golden State Warriors (twice), with almost all coming on the road as well. Those games and how Utah does overall in those five contests will likely make or break its playoff hopes.

The Jazz have put together an impressive stretch in the second half of the season to come back to put themselves in the heart of the Western Conference playoff race, and they will continue to be a team to watch as the season begins to wrap up.

Next: 2017-18 Week 21 NBA Power Rankings

If Utah is able to win around 10 of those 15 games, which is certainly a possibility, it will likely find itself back in the postseason after having stormed back into the already entertaining playoff picture.

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