This is going to be a thing now, so look for it.
By ‘this’, I mean a weekly preview for the Utah Jazz, coming out every Monday of the season. We also preview the Jazz season in our podcast, Inside the Arch, which is available on our website.
Anyways, you’re here to read about what’s going to happen with the Jazz this week, so let’s get to it.
Get Back the Mojo
The Jazz went on a little losing streak after All-Star weekend, a little losing streak that took place at home and included a 20-point loss to the Phoenix Suns. Yeah, a 20-point loss to the Suns. However, this past Friday the Jazz beat the Washington Wizards to end the last five games 1-4.
Now, we can’t act like beating the Wizards is an amazing accomplishment, as they are a full 15 games under .500. What we can do, though, is use the Wizards as a sort of righting-the-ship moment, stop the slide, and gain some positive momentum. Quin Snyder and the Jazz can alleviate their recent struggles by winning some of the easy games that take place during this week.
Easy Money?
The Jazz have some hopefully easy games this week, even though it’s all going to be on the road. Their schedule looks like this (all games in Mountain Standard Time):
Jazz @ Cavaliers, Mon., March 2nd, 5:00 P.M.
Jazz @ Knicks, Wed., March 4th, 5:30 P.M.
Jazz @ Celtics, Fri., March 6th, 6:00 P.M.
Jazz @ Pistons, Sat., March 7th, 5:00 P.M.
Now, I don’t know if you noticed, but the Jazz can win these games, even the Boston game, if we play at the level we are capable of playing at. Cleveland has been a hot mess all season, the Knicks are still owned by James Dolan, and the Pistons just traded away Andre Drummond and still don’t have Blake Griffin back from injury. I cannot stress enough, the Jazz should win those three games. If we lose one of those, we have issues that run deeper than bad shooting nights.
The Boston game is not an easy win, not by any standards. Jayson Tatum was playing at a superstar level all of February, averaging 30.7 points per game while shooting 49.4% from the field and 48.1% from three-point land. Tatum also roughed up the Jazz fairly well the last time the two teams met, scoring 33 points and snagging 11 boards. If Tatum plays like that against the Jazz on Friday, it will be a very tough game to win for Utah.
Donovan Mitchell
That being said, the Jazz have their own superhero. Donovan Mitchell has been playing the best basketball of his career over the past five games, averaging 29.7 points and making 47.3% of his shots. Spida has even improved from deep during the same span, taking about seven 3-pointers a game, and making three of them.
Despite his individual efforts, the team as a whole has worsened on both sides of the ball, shooting worse than normal and allowing a lot more points. If the Jazz would have won those games, we might look at Donovan’s achievements during these games as extremely promising. However, the general clamor is that Mitchell’s points, especially his 38 against Phoenix, were pointless. Personally, I’m not sure that they are empty stats, but Twitter is doing its best to convince me otherwise.
What to Watch
If you want to watch good, entertaining basketball between good teams that feature two All-Stars apiece, then the Boston-Utah game is for you. If you want to watch a game with one playoff team and the JV versions of playoff NBA teams, then watch the Jazz play the Cavaliers, Knicks and Pistons.
I will be watching the Boston game, and I will tentatively turn on the other games while hiding my eyes behind my hands in case the Jazz are losing. If I were to watch all of the games, I’d be watching the rotations that Quin Snyder uses. The debate between Ingles and Conley as a starter is a very pressing issue for the Jazz right now, and it’ll be very interesting to see how it all plays out.
Also, Donovan is playing great, and it is so, so entertaining. He is high-flying, electrifying and stupefying. He has played at an amazing level, and you should watch it. If you turn on the game, he’ll be impossible to miss.
Predictions
What do I think will happen? I’m glad you asked.
I believe that the Jazz will do what they need to do, winning three games and dropping one to the Celtics. If the Jazz were capable of beating the Wizards, they can beat the Cavs, Knicks and Pistons. The game in Boston could be good, or it could be a blowout. Honestly, I don’t see the Celtics losing this one. Boston is 23-6 at home, and have been playing lights-out basketball against great teams.
