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Jazz Playoff Odds
Posted by: Jared Jardine on March 23rd, 2012
The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of the Utah Jazz.Don’t look here now, but according to ESPN.com analyst John Hollinger the Jazz now have the inside track at the 8th seed and a 60% chance at making the playoffs! Not only that, but we are within 1 1/2 games of being the 4th seed! Go Jazz!
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Only one and a half games back from having home court advantage in the first round… wow. That blows my mind. For the record, that’s something the Jazz NEVER did as long as D-Will, Boozer, AK, Memo, etc led the way. The best they ever got was the No. 5 seed.
And to think, after all that’s happened this year, they have as good a chance as any of those Jazz teams had to clinch home court this season.
Crazy. I blame Boozer still for sitting out ‘injured’ the last game of the season and dropping us from what would’ve been a three seed to fifth, where we faced Denver, then LA, our two toughest matchups at the time.
Hollinger’s odds also show all of the top 9 as being favorites to make the playoffs – it’s just that close that almost anyone could fall out of it (even the Fakers, for instance).
The Jazz seem at first glance like the least playoff-ready of the nine teams, but another look shows both Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap to be in the top 15 in PER in the league. Both guys have been great on offense mainly because each of them hardly ever turns the ball over, and secondarily because Paul’s shooting touch is absolutely phenomenal. Jefferson’s defense and defensive rebounding are a huge step above anything he’s shown in his past years; it’s clear he’s put in the work and the Jazz staff has got him on the right track.
Jefferson and Millsap should be more widely regarded as “star players” than they are currently, especially considering Millsap has put up these numbers despite getting absurdly few calls from the refs. That guy gets annihilated on the court night in and night out and just so rarely draws the fouls he should, even though he’s really savvy about it (For example, did anyone see the break last night where he was running ahead, his defender trailing got too close, and Millsap stopped dead in his tracks to draw the foul and then manufactured a shooting motion to get to the line? It was brilliant.). If the refs actually called games straight rather than giving “respect” to “stars” Paul would be among the greatest beneficiaries.
i said it… nice race to playoffs.
Go Jazz Go!
Yea I agree that Paul hardley ever gets the calls he deserves , but so does a few others on this team , Hayward and Burkes for instance .
But all in all I am so excited about this years teams chances at gettin to the playoffs .
Go Jazz Go !!!!!! I believe in ya all !!!!
This streak is statistically amazing! But when watching these games its so apparent that the success is due to team cohesive playing. The jazz have a team gel going on! At the begining of the season, just looking at this roster was crazy and i thought wow we are seriously an unknown. Hayward and Favors could do anything this year, Burkes or Kanter could be a bust, but we could still be solid with some good vets on the team. Howard, Tinsely, both great talents in late unknown career factors. The whole team was a loaded talented roster and huge unknown. I thought wow, if by there is any chance our rookies tap a chunk of their potential and the vets tap their old potential… we have one of the most talented rosters in the NBA. And if we do tap that and we can some how gel everyone together with playing time etc. this team can be crazy good. After febuary hope faded to maybe next year, but click and BOOM! they did it!! We gelled!! IF Jazz can keep getting better on defense and win enough to get better than 8th seed, we could easily take teams by surprise. Ty is coaching some great basketball, picking apart opponents and frustrating the core of each team we play. If we make the playoffs he should get COY hands down
Looks like only the Thunder have a lock in the West right now. I figure it will take forty wins for # 7 and Thirty-eight wins for # 8 seed.