Oklahoma City Thunder: Ranking playoff matchups in terms of favorability
By Nolan Jensen
#2) Utah Jazz
Boasting one of the NBA’s best home records in the league at 20-5, this wouldn’t necessarily be an ideal four/five matchup if the Utah Jazz secured home-court advantage in the opening round.
And given how the western conference’s seedings are seemingly ever-changing, that outcome is still very much so in play for the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Led by the reigning back-to-back recipient of the Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert, and the recently-minted first time NBA All-Star Donovan Mitchell, the Jazz are an efficient team on both ends of the court.
Like the majority of teams on this list, the Jazz has nice complementary pieces in guys like Joe Ingles, Bojan Bogdanovic, Mike Conley (whose coming on at the right time), Jordan Clarkson, and Royce O’Neale, among others. They’re a rounded squad, but they don’t necessarily pose the same threat as top-tier threats in the conference.
The narrative surrounding the Jazz is nothing revolutionary: they need to secure home court. And even if they do, it’s crucial that they defend it.
If the Thunder and Jazz were to meet and the Oklahoma City Thunder split the first two games in Salt Lake City, the task starts to become much more realistic.
For the season, the Jazz has a 16-13 road record in comparison to OKC’s 16-10 record away from their own backyard. The two teams have met twice this season, with each team coming away with a victory.
The Oklahoma City Thunder would have an opportunity to avenge their 2018 first-round defeat to the Jazz with the roles reversed; OKC would enter as the underdog, the same title they held all offseason as a team that had low expectations. You begin to get the drift that’s exactly how they like it.