With the Western Conference race so tight between 2-8, what position do the Jazz really want?
1. Obviously the Jazz can win on the road in the playoffs (they’ve done it several times against the Houston Rockets), so I don’t think that is much of an issue until the later rounds (which they probably wouldn’t be able to get anyway).
2. They probably don’t want to play the San Antonio Spurs or the Los Angeles Lakers in the first or second rounds, if they can help it — especially not the Los Angeles Lakers. Best to have the Lakers vs Spurs be the second round blockbuster, if at all possible, with the Jazz playing in the opposite side of the bracket.
With that in mind, the Jazz probably want to be in positions 2, 3, 6, or 7. The Jazz certainly don’t want to slip to 8, but I don’t really think they want to get up to #4, either, especially if that is their reward for clinching the division. (Is a second round matchup vs the Lakers really a reward?)
As of this post, the Jazz are in the sixth position opposite the Houston Rockets, who are in third. Since we already know that the Jazz can beat a Houston Rockets team who has the home-court advantage, this can’t be too disconcerting. Having San Antonio at the 2 spot, certainly wouldn’t be optimal, though.
If things stay relatively how they are with the Lakers at #1, Houston, Denver, and San Antonio at #2-4, Portland, Utah, New Orleans at 5-7, and Dallas at #8, the best possible scenario would probably be something like the following:
1. Los Angeles Lakers
2. Houston Rockets
3. Denver Nuggets
4. San Antonio Spurs
5. New Orleans Hornets
6. Utah Jazz
7. Portland Trailblazers
8. Dallas Mavericks
Personally, I’d much rather have the Jazz match up with the Nuggets rather than Houston. (McGrady won’t be playing, and his poor shooting was likely the reason they were losing anyway.) You also want New Orleans to take a pot-shot at taking out San Antonio before the Jazz have to do it. And if San Antonio slides by New Orleans, you’d love to have them take a shot at the Lakers before Utah has to.
In other words, matchups are far more important than the division title.
If you’re going to pray for something, pray for the best possible matchups that the Jazz can get.
Jerry
When willams & boozer where were out for 13 or 14 weeks you had won every game. When they came back you went back to losing. If Williams makes 25 or more points the Jazz lose the game thast because Williams is doing most of the shooting. He turns the ball over every time he misses, he tries to get fancy passing the ball turning it over. You ought to try the same starting line up when they were out. Please respond back to me on what you think about this. The jazz is good enough to beat anybody without those two players.
Sincerly,
Joe Salazar