Jan 28, 2017; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Utah Jazz forward Gordon Hayward (20) heads to the locker room prior to their game against the Memphis Grizzlies at Vivint Smart Home Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Swinger-USA TODAY Sports
After a tough 1-3 week, the Utah Jazz will benefit from some much-needed rest that will hopefully lead to consecutive victories and improved confidence in their upcoming two-game slate.
As much as it pains me to say it, last week was a rough stretch for the Utah Jazz. After going undefeated over the course of two weeks by winning six straight games, the Jazz failed to make a convincing statement against tough Western Conference foes.
While I had fully expected the loss at Denver given that it was Utah’s fourth game in five days on the road against a rising Nuggets squad, I also thought the Jazz would be able to come out and take care of business on their home floor against Oklahoma City and Memphis, beating the pair of them much like they did in mid-December.
Unfortunately, in several ways this Jazz team of late has not at all resembled that squad from just over a month ago.
The Jazz’s lone win of the week was against a hapless Lakers team that currently finds itself in last place in the Western Conference. Unfortunately even that contest was far from convincing as Utah allowed LA to hang around all game long before ultimately pulling out a single-digit victory.
Dub. ????#LALatUTA pic.twitter.com/sOt3lT1ScI
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) January 27, 2017
It was Utah’s first ever regular season sweep of the Lakers, which is great news, but the great news essentially stopped there as Utah went just 1-3 on the week.
That 1-3 week put Utah at a 30-19 record for the year. That’s still a whopping 11 games above .500 and is still good for fifth place in the West, but with the Jazz having so much trouble competing against good teams, there’s no question that their fate for the remainder of the season is growing somewhat worrisome.
I, meanwhile, had pinned the Jazz to go just the opposite at 3-1 last week. Since I correctly picked the Denver loss and win over the Lakers, I finished 2-2 for the week, knotting my record up with the Jazz’s at 30-19.
Nevertheless, as the Jazz continue to struggle, they become a harder and harder team to project. It’s becoming difficult to judge who will show up on any given night, the Jazz have looked shaky on both sides of the ball and despite being supposedly healthy, it’s almost seemed like the Jazz’s chemistry and cohesion have taken a major blow as the team tries to work the newly recovered faces back in.
Fortunately, after playing four games last week, the first two of which were part of a four games in five days stretch, the Jazz will get some much-needed rest as they’ll have three days off before hosting the middling Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday. Then, in what will be just a two-game week, Utah will cap off Week 15 and their four-game home stand by hosting the Charlotte Hornets on Saturday.
With so much rest this week and playing against opponents whose records are under .500 (which Utah has done very well against this season) hopefully it will give them a chance to recover, build more confidence and get some semblance of cohesion so that they can prove themselves as an actual threat in the West once again.
Mar 20, 2016; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Milwaukee Bucks center Greg Monroe (15) dribbles the ball as Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert (27) defends during the third quarter at BMO Harris Bradley Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports
2/1 Utah vs. Milwaukee
7:00 pm MT – Root Sports/League Pass
Opponent record: 21-26
Season series: Tied 0-0
In Wednesday’s contest, Utah will take on one of the remaining three teams that they have yet to face so far this season (the other two are the Wizards and the Pelicans) when the Milwaukee Bucks come to town.
The Bucks have been somewhat of a confusing team this year (though most of the middle-of-the-pack Eastern Conference teams have been) as they started out the year hot looking like an almost sure playoff team but have since cooled significantly and find themselves just outside of the playoff pack at ninth in the East.
Nevertheless, they boast a slew of young talent that makes them dangerous night in and night out and could very well lead them to a surge up the standings to work their way back into the playoff mix before too long. Principal among those incredible young talents has been Giannis Antetokounmpo, A.K.A. The Greek Freak.
Milwaukee Bucks TPA breakdown. This Giannis Antetokounmpo guy could have a future: pic.twitter.com/AC7nnCDXE7
— NBA Math (@NBA_Math) December 30, 2016
Antetokounmpo’s incredible play this year certainly hasn’t gone unnoticed as he was recently named an All-Star starter due to his phenomenal play so far this season. He’s averaging career-highs across the board with 23.4 points, 8.7 rebounds and 5.5 assists. He’s arguably the most versatile player in the league who can play every position from point guard to center.
The Greek Freak is extremely capable in the open floor and can hurt opposing teams in a variety of methods both offensively and defensively. His sky-high field goal percentage of 52.7 percent is an indicator of just how effective he’s been this year.
His major weakness is his three-point shooting as he’s converting on just 29.1 percent of his attempts from deep so far this season, but fortunately for Antetokounmpo, he has several other capable deep threats around him such as Malcolm Brogdon, Tony Snell and Jason Terry who have helped the Bucks to rank 10th in the league in three-point shooting at 36.7 percent.
They should also receive an enormous boost in this area soon as Milwaukee is hopeful that three-point sharpshooter Khris Middleton, who is a career 40 percent shooter from behind the arc, could be back prior to the All-Star break. He suffered a hamstring tear before the season’s start but is considered a critical part of this Milwaukee team.
After Antetokounmpo, Jabari Parker is the Bucks player who deserves the most recognition. After struggling to live up to his projected hype early in his career largely due to a torn ACL in his rookie season, Parker is starting to show glimpses of just what kind of player he’s capable of becoming.
In his second season back from injury, Parker is averaging 20.2 points per game on solid shooting figures of 48.6 percent from the field and 37.7 percent from deep.
So Utah will certainly have their hands full with Antetokounmpo and Parker as well as the tough combination of vets and young guys on this Milwaukee team. The Bucks will be coming into the game on an equal amount of rest and could very well present some match-up problems for the Jazz.
Nevertheless, the Bucks have struggled of late losing eight of their last nine games and still have a lot of work to do to figure out how to overcome their overall inexperience and to come together as a formidable squad. Given that the Jazz will finally be well-rested, will be playing at home and have done extremely well against teams with subpar records this season, I’m predicting that they’ll come away with the win.
Of course, there’s no denying that even against a sub-.500 Bucks team, the Jazz will have to play much better than they did against Memphis if they hope to win. Milwaukee isn’t an elite team by any means, but they have enough talent to be a threat, so a victory for the Jazz would still be an impressive feat given their recent struggles and hopefully provide a significant confidence boost.
My Prediction: Jazz Win
Final Score: Utah 98, Milwaukee 90
Nov 9, 2016; Charlotte, NC, USA; Utah Jazz guard forward Gordon Hayward (20) looks to pass the ball as he us defended by Charlotte Hornets guard Kemba Walker (15) during the first half of the game at the Spectrum Center. Mandatory Credit: Sam Sharpe-USA TODAY Sports
2/4 Utah vs. Charlotte
7:00 pm MT – Root Sports/League Pass
Opponent record: 23-25
Season series: Tied 0-0
The Charlotte Hornets have followed an extremely similar trajectory as the Bucks this season as they started out the year looking like a threat for a top-four seed in the East, but have fallen drastically to find themselves clinging to a playoff spot for dear life at eighth in the conference.
Yet, despite some recent struggles that have seen them lose four straight and nine of their last 12, this is still a good team. The Hornets are well-coached, move the ball well, boast a roster of established veterans as well as a handful of up-and-comers and are led by a phenomenal player in Kemba Walker who, just like Gordon Hayward, was recently named to his first All-Star game.
????KEMBA WALKER!!!!????
CONGRATULATIONS @KEMBAWALKER ON HEADING TO YOUR FIRST #NBAALLSTAR GAME! #AllStarKemba #BuzzCity pic.twitter.com/JPxjfm8hw3
— Charlotte Hornets (@hornets) January 27, 2017
Walker is averaging 23.3 points and 5.5 assists per game while shooting very well at 45.7 percent from the field and 40.5 percent from deep. In the Jazz’s first meeting against the Hornets earlier in the season, Kemba took over the game in the fourth quarter and managed to give his squad a narrow victory.
He’s seemingly had the Jazz’s number on several recent occasions as just last season he dropped a career-high 52 points en route to a double overtime victory over Utah.
The last time these two teams met, the Jazz were also hurt by former Jazzman Marvin Williams who has turned into a reliable deep-ball threat and an important piece of this Hornets team. Nicolas Batum, who is Charlotte’s second leading scorer, is also a consistent threat who despite struggling last time the Jazz and Hornets met is capable of going off on any given night.
Therefore, in a lot of ways I see both the Hornets and Bucks as similar opponents who can create similar problems for the Jazz. Both are close to one another in the Eastern Conference standings and while their records leave much to be desired at this point, they’ve both shown flashes of being a top-talent team and either one could give Utah a scare.
Nevertheless, just like I expect Utah to come out on top against the Bucks on their home floor, I expect them to be able to do the same against a solid but beatable Charlotte Hornets team.
It will be a tough match-up, but hopefully with George Hill in action this time around, he can get some of his swagger back and use it to slow Walker defensively and outwit him on offense to help lead Utah to a victory. Much like the game against the Bucks, while this wouldn’t necessarily be a statement win, the Hornets are still a good team and defeating them could work wonders for Utah’s confidence and cohesion moving forward.
My Prediction: Jazz Win
Final Score: Utah 108, Charlotte 102
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So while it’s been a bit concerning to see Utah’s play of late, they have a great opportunity to notch a perfect 2-0 week and hopefully get back on track. I definitely expect two entertaining games as Utah will host a pair of fun and exciting teams, but ultimately these are important contests for the Jazz to simply take care of business and get back to their winning ways.
They’ll certainly need that boost as heading into the All-Star break the Jazz will face three tough teams with winning records in the Hawks, Celtics and Clippers over the course of six games. Those are contests in which Utah will need to be firing on all cylinders if they hope to come out with wins and enter the break on a high note.
All stats courtesy of NBA.com
