The Utah Jazz are in the middle of the playoff race and they just had a very bad loss to Brooklyn. Here’s why their chances have just gotten slimmer.
If you’re disappointed, you’ve got every right. Fans in Utah have been waiting for this team to become competitive and make the playoffs. For the second year in a row, the Jazz are in the middle of the Western Conference playoff race and this year more than last, Utah has a better chance to make the postseason tournament.
Even though Utah technically is still in the race, their position within the race is starting to slip away because of the dire losses they keep suffering.
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A blowout against a San Antonio Spurs team who themselves in any other year would have the best record in the league because of their 49-9 record isn’t a bad loss. Getting blown out to the tune of a 96-78 score, on the other hand, is bad. It’s even worse when a team you’re competing against (the Houston Rockets) for the final playoff spot only loses to San Antonio 104-94.
To make matters worse for fans and the organization alike was the terrible home loss Saturday night to the Brooklyn Nets. Utah took a 98-96 home loss . At this point in the season, Brooklyn has absolutely nothing to play for except for overall morale. This game was a gift of a win and to lose is a complete setback.
One of the reasons why the Brooklyn home loss was so detrimental to Utah’s playoff chances is because of the next stretch of games.
Utah will have to play against the Boston Celtics, Toronto Raptors, Memphis Grizzlies and New Orleans Pelicans … and that’s just this week. Out of those four teams listed only three of them have potential playoff hopes.
With New Orleans being the odd team out of the playoff race, the Pelicans are still dangerous because they’ve got Anthony Davis and he’s liable to drop 30 plus on a given night.
What that means is that Utah will have to play near perfect if they want to escape with a 3-1 record. That’s the type of winning they need to do if they want to jump past Houston and catch the Portland Trail Blazers in the playoff race.
But even after this week’s stretch of games, Utah will then have to turn around to play against the Atlanta Hawks, Golden State Warriors, Washington Wizards and Sacramento Kings. All of those teams are very competitive teams looking to improve before the season finishes.
The Problem
One of the reasons the upcoming could be very dangerous waters to tread in is because Utah doesn’t have enough firepower on offense.
Utah for the entire season has let their defense be the catalyst for their team’s success. Granted the formula worked somewhat for most of the year but at the end of the day, Utah still has a below average record (28-30) because they can’t score enough points.
Not scoring enough points is the reason why the Brooklyn Nets were able to steal away a victory during the most important stretch of games. Utah outscored Brooklyn in the first and fourth quarters but didn’t manage to crack 100 points. This season when Utah gets to the century mark, this season they have a 14-8 record.
The good news is that the Jazz can and will control their own destiny. If they want to make the playoffs they’ve simply just have to find a way to win.
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With this upcoming schedule, they could either push themselves out of the playoff race or push themselves into the playoff race with a number of quality signature wins.