Meet
Now The Schedule Begins to Turn
Posted by: Steven on February 7th, 2013
The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of the Utah Jazz.After all those away games early on in the season calendar I was looking forward to seeing what the Jazz achieve this past month at home, largely against poorer quality opposition at home. Then Mo went down before Christmas and I thought there was a possibility that the Jazz might lose a few close games they should have otherwise have won and that those results might hurt the team later on in the year. However the Jazz came through the other end of this month with pretty much the results that the team should have expected to achieve before the the injury of Mo and the added injury of Hayward. Before their injuries Hayward and Mo were the 3rd and 4th highest scoring players in the team, so to come out with the results that this squad has in the absence means some players have had to step up.
Now though comes the tricky part, the upcoming schedule for the rest of February doesn’t involve too many trips away from ESA, which is going to help, but the caliber of the competition is getting steeper.
It begins with Chicago at home. The Bulls are doing a fine job of coping without key players all season long.
Followed then by a trip to Sacramento, a winnable away game but a team that the Jazz struggle to beat convincingly considering the win/loss record of the Kings.
Then back home against Oklahoma.
Minnesota at home should be winnable.
The Jazz need to make amends for the last result against Golden State. Can home advantage help?
By the 23rd the Clippers will either have Chris Paul back on the floor or Eric Bledsoe will be much more at ease running the floor in his absence.
By the 25th you don’t know which Boston is going to show up. The one that is on a winning streak, or a losing streak.
A return to home court should give the team an advantage over the Hawks.
The team currently sits 6 games above 500, but that is thanks to a favourable January, and a couple of players stepping up. Can the team continue to pick up wins at home against the likes of Chicago, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Golden State and Atlanta? Hayward should be back soon so that should help somewhat. However up until now Burks has had the luxury of learning the point against weaker opposition, now he’s going to have a harder time of it. The team has done a decent job of taking care of the teams it had in front of it in January but those six games only amount to a couple of games above 9th position. Hopefully the winning habit will mean that players who have stepped up can keep their performances up against the better teams that they are going to face.
What are your predictions for the upcoming games and where the Jazz may sit by the time the Jazz play Charlotte on March 1st?
Replies: 9
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9 Responses
Chicago came to town a couple years ago and manhandled us and then BOOM Sloan quit that night/next day and then BOOM D-Will was gone. They were also the team to beat the Jazz in the Finals the only two times they’ve been. The Chicago Dooms are coming!
I could only wish that happens again with Al and Ty
@Derek Weitzel, I agree! However, for it to be a perfect scenario Watson would have to leave as well!!!
Where’s @Omar at? This is his go-to stat. Jazz record against teams over .500. What kind of record are you predicting for this month?
haha,Andy! That is my go to stat right now! Last year, it was Al takes 17 shots to 19 points and Jazz record and scoring / defense averages in Al’s DNPs.
Since Kanter had a monster game, and the Bulls are super physical team, it only makes sense that the Jazz play Kanter like 4 minutes only next game, and go with a super non-physical big in Al. And since Burks is playing well, this is usually a good time to DNP him and get Watson going to prep for the playoffs, so I see Watson getting like 25 minutes.
Plus those trade rumors of Al leaving. Things are going to well, so I expect Corbin it bring us back to his reality—Al 38 minutes!! Foye’s been really good lately, but Bulls wing defenders are disciplined and athletic, so I don’t think Jazz can rely on Foye too much. However, I think Marvin likes playing against East teams (Marvin was the only starter that showed up against @Heat in 1st quarter). Anyway, if Corbin reverts back to Corbin we know and don’t love. Jazz lose to Bulls.
Bulls (L)
@Kings (L) Cousins goes off and eats Al’s lunch, while Watson goes 0-5 and gets burned all night.
OKC (L) Westbrook eats Tinsley’s and Watson’s lunch. Al gets punked by OKC bigs takes 19 shots to get 16 points, zero FTs.
TWolves are trash (W)
GSW (L in OT)
With Corbin being Corbin, I say Jazz go 1-4…THEN ITS DEADLINE TIME!… but if Kanter and Burks combine for over 35 minutes in any of those games, I say Jazz beat Bulls, Kings, Twolves. If Kanter Burks combine for over 45 minutes and Watson gets DNPed, Jazz win every game but OKC. If Al and Watston get traded, Jazz win every game!!!
So what I gather is that several Jazz vets will be going without lunch at some point during the next week or so.
Not that this event matters much, but how the hell does Zeller make “rising stars” roster and not Kanter?! When’s the last time a #3 pick was not in this game?! B.s.
But I guess its fair to blame Jazz FO and Corbin and to a lesser extent Al.
Ok Omar, we shouldn’t expect to see any more of your posts for a while right? Why would you want to watch the Jazz lose, since it’s what you ‘know’ is going to happen anyway. What a disgrace, you call yourself a fan?
^
I was just about to write that until I read all the way through. Ok yeah, depends on how the games are coached hehe
@Jamezz, haha!
I really think the difference between getting swept in 1st round and making it to West finals is how soon the Jazz move on from Al and Watson. The sooner they are out of rotation, the more time the new look Jazz can get great momentum into playoffs. At that point no team scares me. With Al and Watson get 30 minutes, I’d be surprised if Jazz win one playoff game.