Why the Utah Jazz will continue to rise in Western Conference standings

With a handful of teams fighting for the final few playoff spots in the Western Conference, here’s why the Utah Jazz will continue to rise above them all in the standings.

We are officially in the final stretch of the regular season in the NBA, and the Utah Jazz are once again in the heart of an incredibly tight Western Conference playoff race.

Entering Wednesday’s slate of NBA games, which features the Jazz facing the Los Angeles Clippers in Salt Lake City, there are about 6-7 teams entering a fight for the final few playoff spots in the West.

Stretching even as high as the Portland Trail Blazers and the No. 4 seed, who are six games back in the standings behind the first-place Golden State Warriors, all the way down to the Minnesota Timberwolves and Los Angeles Lakers, who are tied for the No. 10 spot at 14 games back, there are a handful of teams who are neck-and-neck heading into the final portion of the year.

Utah, which is currently sitting in sixth in the standings and 9.5 games back with an overall record of 33-26, has put itself in a good position to finish off the regular season strong thanks to a solid run in the second half of the 2018-19 campaign.

The good news for the Jazz as we continue to inch closer to the postseason is they could very well continue to make a rise in the Western standings as the playoff seeding plays itself out.

For the second consecutive season, Utah started the regular season schedule off to somewhat of a slower start, finding itself on the outside of the playoff picture looking in as the midpoint in the year commenced.

Much like last year, though, the Jazz have been able to pull together an impressive second half to push back into the postseason and once again arise as one of the hottest teams in the league at the best possible time of the season.

Ahead of Wednesday night’s contest against the Clippers, the Jazz have opened up the second portion of the NBA schedule with a record of 13-5 to maintain their current position in the West standings.

From here, Utah’s schedule looks like it will continue to play in the team’s favor down the final stretch.

Of the 23 games remaining on their regular season schedule, the Jazz will play just eight of those contests against teams currently sitting in a playoff spot. The remaining 15 games will come against teams that are sitting at the bottom of their respective conferences and on the outside of the playoff picture looking in, including the Phoenix Suns three times, Memphis Grizzlies, New York Knicks, Chicago Bulls and Atlanta Hawks.

So far this season, the Jazz have posted a strong 19-7 mark against teams below .500, which is much better than their 14-19 mark against teams at or above .500.

The mix between Utah continuing to play well in the second half and its upcoming schedule means we could certainly see the Jazz stick around in the middle of the Western Conference playoff race and even rise in the standings as the 2018-19 NBA campaign comes to a close.