Utah Jazz: Red-hot and ready to shake up the West’s playoff picture

As the red-hot Utah Jazz continue to climb up the Western Conference standings, we explore how much of a threat they can actually be

The Western Conference playoff race gets hotter – and closer – by the day as the Utah Jazz has been on fire over the past few weeks.

They are currently 8-2 over their last 10 games and went on an exceptional 11-game winning streak that ran through the end of January through mid-February.  So what is going on with the Jazz? Can they be a scary team in the Western Conference playoffs or will there be a drop-off?

Let’s go and take a look.

The biggest reason why the Jazz have been playing well lately was that Rudy Gobert is finally healthy, and when he is healthy, he is a defensive beast out on the court. Besides his defense, he has fantastic finishing ability along with the skill set to get to the free throw line. He is also one the best offensive rebounders in the NBA and one of the best pick and rollers. He is very effective and can now finally be able to move effectively around the rim.

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Another player that has been making great contributions to the Utah Jazz is Derrick Favors. His defense has greatly improved over this season. Before he underwent a few injuries, he was considered one of the best defensive fives in the NBA. He was known for defending the perimeter along with the ability to switch off defenders.

At the beginning of the season, he was looking fairly slow, and he especially looked slow last year since he was recovering from an injury, as Favors stated it like he was playing with one leg. He seems like he moving a lot better.

The Jazz has been playing these two together every time that they were healthy and have been getting results. The spacing is a little rough since neither player can shoot the 3-pointers well. However, Quin Snyder has done enough to get these two players to play well with each other.

They have been able to work their differences out by switching sides whenever a player has the ball. An example would be if Gobert is on a screen, Favors would sit by the baseline away from Gobert. There is a bit of a fear that these two won’t work together since there were multiple occurrences where Quin Snyder didn’t have them on the floor at the same time. Defenses will most likely pile towards the paint every time Gobert gets the ball on a pick and roll, which causes spacing issues.

During their 11-game winning streak, they were hitting 3-pointers at an exceptional rate. Joe Ingles has been hitting nearly 50 percent from the 3-point line during the span. Even Ricky Rubio has had a consistent 3-point shot during that span. Donovan Mitchell has been insane during the stretch hitting 40 percent of 3-pointers on six attempts and is currently shooting 35 percent from 3. Mitchells shots are not simple spot shots or wide-open shots; these are mostly contested shots that are finding their way into the basket. He just shows a lot of comfort in his shot, especially for a rookie guard.

Mitchell’s offense has been huge for them, and they had this giant revitalization because of he is the only player on the team that can put up points on a consistent basis. Most players on the team need another player to create their shot for them. However, Mitchell has fantastic skills of creating his shot. Joe Ingles can create his shot, but he is a very subtle it. Ingles does have a lot of skills in the pick and roll department which results in bailing out players that are getting double teamed.

Jae Crowder’s defense has been very good for Jazz since he was traded from Cleveland. He seems way more engaged on defense since he is playing on a team that has a real defensive system, unlike Cleveland. It seems like he is getting along with players in this locker room compared to the one in Cleveland and it motivated him. On offense, he is a little rough since his 3-pointers haven’t been going in all season. His strongest skill sets are that he is a good free throw shooter and he is quick when shooting the ball.

If you have all of these players playing like they have been playing, the Utah Jazz should give some teams a lot of headaches, especially when the shots go in. Ricky Rubio’s shot is probably the most inconsistent on the team, since he can be on fire some nights while becoming cold on other nights. He is a strange player in the sense that he is a good free throw shooter, while he is a poor floor shooter.

They are currently in the 10 seed in the Western Conference and are 1.5 games behind San Antonio Spurs at the 5 seed. Losing one or two games, you are drastically changing from a mid tear playoff team to a mid-lottery selection. Their main goal is to reach the six seed so that they have a decent chance of making it to the second round.  If they get the 8th or 7th seed most likely, they will be eliminated in the first round.

If they finished in the 6 seed spot, they would potentially play the Trail Blazers, and they would have a legitimate shot at beating them. They are currently 2-1 against them this year. If they play a team like the Spurs, without Kawhi Leonard, then they would have very good opportunity of beating the Spurs. What’s good about the Jazz is that they can control the game at any moment. They can swallow the clock and give teams less of a chance to score. They currently have one of the slowest paces in the league.

Some teams may keep the Jazz from making the playoffs, one of them being the Denver Nuggets. They currently are in the top 10 when it comes to home records, and they have seven home games left in the season. They can win at least five of those next seven games.  The Pelicans can keep them out of the playoffs with the way Anthony Davis is playing, and also Oklahoma City Thunder with Paul George and Russel Westbrook.

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In reality, the Utah Jazz may not make playoffs especially with the way players like Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder or Anthony Davis of the Pelicans can just go off at any moment. With teams like Nuggets, Pelicans, Trail Blazers, and Thunder playing well at a consistent basis the Jazz may miss out in playoffs. But if they do make the playoffs, they are a fun team to watch in the playoffs and have bright future ahead of them.