Watch out for the Utah Jazz in the second half of the regular season
Alright, we’re here again — the part of the regular season where the Utah Jazz get as dangerous as ever.
After a not-so-impressive first half of the season, the Salt Lake City squad has won six straight games and is back in the top eight of the Western Conference and looking to solidify their position in the post-season.
As of this writing, the team is 8–2 in their last ten games to add to their six-game winning streak. They’ve also gone 13–13 on the road (which is an improvement compared to where they were earlier in the season) and they’ve won the good majority of their home contests.
Utah is only 6.5 games out of first place in the Western Conference. At the top is Golden State, chased closely by Denver, but outside of that the third seed (currently Portland) is only two games away.
One positive takeaway from their previous ten outings is that the only loses they’ve had were both road games and were both against the top two teams in the Eastern Conference.
And even in those games, it was awfully close.
The Jazz held the lead going into the final frame against the Bucks in Milwaukee but lost due to a 16-point fourth quarter that resulted in a 12-point defeat.
Before that, the Raptors only beat the Jazz by six points in Toronto in large part due to Utah giving up 44 points coming out of halftime. Kawhi Leonard dropped 45 points to help his new team get over the slow first half and get the win at home.
Besides that, Utah’s racked up eight quality wins including dominating wins over the Clippers and Lakers with two blowouts of the Cavaliers in the mix.
Riding the current wave of momentum, star guard Donovan Mitchell has also shown that he can embrace the role of running the point instead of sticking to just shooting guard — it’s paying immediate dividends.
He’s played so well in the transition due to injuries to Ricky Rubio and Dante Exum that KSL.com contributor Patrick Kinahan thinks it’s time for this switch to be permanent.
Looking comfortable and making the right plays when it counts has helped Mitchell’s confidence soar through the roof. Although he won’t be defending his Slam Dunk Contest crown, the former Louisville standout is out to show in his second season that he can lead the Jazz back to the promised land.
The Jazz next play at home on Monday against Portland before hosting Denver and Minnesota to get them through the week. From there, trips to Minnesota and Portland will close out the month of January, hopefully on an even higher note than they are now.
February is where this team will need to prove that they’re the real deal. The five straight divisional games to end January are also incredibly important to holding weight in their conference since Oklahoma City, Portland and Denver are three of the teams ahead of them in the standings.
Not to mention that Minnesota, of all teams, has the best record within the division despite being behind overall in the standings.
To kick off February, the Jazz will get a four-game homestand against Atlanta, Houston, Phoenix, and San Antonio — all very winnable games, with the hardest challenger being the Rockets out of that sample size.
From there, the two most important games of the month — and possibly the regular season — are up to bat. First is a clash with the Golden State Warriors at Oracle Arena with DeMarcus Cousins now in the mix.
The series between the Jazz and Warriors has included back and forth since last season, but Utah is one of the rare teams that can actually hang in a game with four All-Star starters healthy for Golden State.
But now we’ll get to see if the addition of Cousins makes a difference against the Jazz.
Ten days later is the next game on the slate where the Jazz travel to Oklahoma City to challenge Russell Westbrook and Paul George.
Should the Jazz win the games they’re expected to win up to this point, getting a victory here could be what propels them over the edge into a heat check.
