Utah Jazz showing why they should be a team to worry about in the West
Not only are the Utah Jazz off to a solid start this season, but they are showing why they should be another team to worry about in the West in 2017-18.
When Gordon Hayward left the Utah Jazz to join the Boston Celtics during the offseason, many thought and expected the Jazz would take a step back.
Early on in the 2017-18 NBA season, that really hasn’t been the case at all.
Following Wednesday’s 112-103 overtime win over the Portland Trail Blazers, Utah improved to 5-3 on the young NBA season, finding themselves right near the top of the stacked Western Conference standings.
With that win, the Jazz continue their hot start to the season, winning their third straight game and improving to 5-0 in front of their home crowd. Not only is Utah off to a solid start in the 2017-18 campaign, but the Jazz are showing all of us why they should be yet another team to worry about in the West this season.
So far this season, the Jazz rank in the top half of the NBA in numerous offensive and defensive categories.
Offensively, Utah is rather average compared to other teams in the league. It ranks 14th in field goal percentage (45.5 percent), 13th in 3-point percentage (36.8 percent) and has the fourth-best free throw percentage in the league (80.8 percent).
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The defensive end is where the Jazz are dangerous. Utah is one of the best defensive teams in the league through eight games, ranking second in points allowed (94.4 per game) and steals (9.9 per game), while ranking third in both blocks (6.9 per game) and defensive rating (96.3).
Yes, I know it’s a brand new season, but let’s compare all of those stats to the first eight games from last season, before the Jazz finished 51-31 to secure the fifth seed in the West and reach the Western Conference semifinals. Oh, and when they had this guy named Gordon Hayward.
In the first eight games of the 2016-17 season, the Jazz shot 45.6 percent from the field, 73.4 percent from the free throw line, recorded 6.9 steals and 5.5 blocks per game, and posted a defensive rating of 101.1 while allowing opponents to score 94.4 points per game. All of those stats, with the exception of the 94.4 points per game (which is the same this year) are worse than what the Jazz have recorded this season.
Sure, it’s early in the NBA season. For all we know, we could be talking about the Jazz doing the exact opposite and struggling later on in the season.
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But if this Jazz team can consistently perform like it has during the first eight games of this season, the West has yet another team that will be right in the middle of the playoff hunt in April.