Utah Jazz: The same formula won’t yield playoff success

The Utah Jazz have been one of the most successful regular-season basketball teams for the past few seasons. They have found a formula that works for them and they have stuck to it.

Just last season they were the number one seed going into the playoffs. Rudy Gobert took home his third Defensive Player of the Year award, Jordan Clarkson won Sixth Man of the Year, and Mike Conley made his first All-Star game.

Over the past few seasons, Utah has relied on two things – defense and three-point shooting. They have gotten off to a slow start shooting-wise this year, but the game plan is still clearly in place.

Gobert anchors their defense while Donovan Mitchell and Conley run the offense. The rest of the roster is then filled up with either great shooters, solid defenders, or both.

Joe Ingles is the perfect example of a player who falls under both categories. They even bulked up this year, adding pieces such as Rudy Gay and Eric Paschall.

Utah Jazz doubled down on their formula which hasn’t worked in the playoffs

The Utah Jazz also decided to double-down on the idea of having a defensive-minded center guarding the paint. They signed Hassan Whiteside this summer to be their backup center, and his playstyle is very similar to Gobert’s in the sense that he’s really only effective in the paint.

All this being said, Utah’s playoff runs have not gone according to plan. Once the postseason comes around, it seems as though the Jazz continue to stay true to their philosophies while the rest of the league changes up their playstyle.

Last year this became abundantly clear when the Clippers abused Gobert in the second round. They essentially took him out of the game by playing a super small lineup which he could not keep up with.

Despite this, as mentioned, the Jazz doubled down on their “rim-protecting big man” philosophy. If Gobert couldn’t stay on the floor in the playoffs last year, how can Whiteside?

Utah is off to another great start to the season, currently sitting at 6-1. However, that’s how it goes every year. They are one of the best regular-season teams of the past five years.

Regardless of that, though, the Utah Jazz did nothing different this offseason that would indicate a change in playoff performance. It seems as though they are simply banking on their same tactics working this time around.

If that is the case, then Utah might be in for a rude awakening. It’s hard to indicate what needs to change in order to garner more playoff success, but it’s been made clear that something does.

Based on their offseason moves and their play so far this season, the Utah Jazz look like the same team. They’ll be great all season long, but the playoffs could be rough once again.