If the playoffs began today the Utah Jazz would not be in them. Here’s why now is the time to change that before it’s too late.
The time is now.
For almost the last 12 months since the All-Star break of last season, I’ve been shouting from the mountaintops how the Utah Jazz were one of the most underrated teams in the league. I’ve been so excited about the season because last year they only finished seven games out of a playoff spot. This season, Utah came into the season hungry and they still haven’t gotten full quite yet.
The time is now for Utah to become the hunter instead of being the hunted.
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Instead of flying and cruising to an easy playoff berth, this season has been a challenge.
Utah’s been ravaged by injuries across the board to their team. Rudy Gobert, Alec Burks, Dante Exum, and Derrick Favors have all missed time this year, causing a bit of a losing skid. The good news is that Gobert has been inserted back into the lineup and he’s been playing at the level we’ve all expected from him.
Gobert just finished up a monster performance against the Detroit Pistons where he finished with 17 points, 17 rebounds, and a blocked shot. Gobert also shot an incredible 70 percent from the floor during his 36 minutes of playing time.
The Return of Faves
Additionally, the best news Utah’s heard all week is that the return of Derrick Favors has finally happened. Favors came back to the lineup after missing 15 games with back spasms.
As of Monday, Favors was listed as questionable on the injury report against the Pistons but he muscled out a gritty performance. Favors finished with 14 points, five rebounds, and one assist in 20 minutes of playing time. Favors also showed very little signs of rust as he shot 5-of-8 from the floor, and 4-of-5 from the free throw line.
If Favors can come back and have any semblance of his old self like the way he did Monday night, then it comes at a perfect time for this franchise. They’ve needed more firepower on offense for the last month and a half, and Favors can greatly improve their chances of scoring more points.
Furthermore, the best piece of news of having Favors back in the lineup is that rookie Trey Lyles has to come off the bench. For the last two years, Utah has desperately trying to figure out who to bring in as a third big man. Utah had their third big on their team when they had Enes Kanter on their roster.
However, after trading Kanter to the Oklahoma City Thunder, they found themselves needing another big. Since Lyles is a gifted rookie that can start on most NBA franchises, having him come off the bench for Favors only bolsters Utah’s bench.
Furthermore, Lyles was starting to come into his own as a player and in the month of Januar, he nearly tripled his scoring average for the month as he scored 9.4 points per game.
The Catch Up
No one wants to play catch up.
In a league like the NBA where every game after the All-Star break is played at a very competitive level for seeding purposes, it’s crucial to make sure you’re in a position to stay afloat rather than attempting to stop the drowning.
The Jazz right now are the 1oth-best team in the Western Conference, so they have to work harder in order to get back into the playoff race. The good news is they are only five games behind the Dallas Mavericks for sixth place, and it’s still very attainable to reach even as high as No. 5, where the Memphis Grizzlies are comfortably residing.
That’s why it’s more important than ever that Utah starts to play their best basketball of the year because the All-Star Game is approaching and they don’t want to have to catch up like they attempted to do last year.
This team now will have no excuses as to why they can or can’t make the playoffs. Their lineup is healthy. They’ve got two potential All-Stars, a dominant center, a clutch scorer in Rodney Hood and a solid bench.
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The time is now. If the Jazz want to make the playoffs their push needs to start now. They can’t afford any more narrow losses to the Pistons, or to any other team they should be defeating.