Utah Jazz: Will the red-hot Jazz be able to handle higher expectations?

The Utah Jazz has been the Cinderella story, we’ve yet to see them as the favorite

The last eight games for the Utah Jazz have been nothing short of remarkable. Let’s recap the last eight games: the Jazz has won all eight of their games, seven of which came by double-figures. The Jazz sits at 12-4 on the year and is currently the third seed in the West, just below the LA Clippers and Los Angeles Lakers.

Utah is led by their young star Donovan Mitchell who is averaging 24 points, four rebounds, and five assists per game on the season while shooting 44 percent from the field. During this eight-game winning streak, Mitchell has put up 27 points per game and has increased his field goal percentage to over 50 percent. Utah has gone all in as Mitchell being their franchise player, further proven by extending Mitchell to the rookie scale max extension of five-years, $163 million.

You parlay Mitchell’s excellence with the solid and consistent play of their big guy Rudy Gobert and you have a problem if you’re in the Western Conference. Gobert gives Utah 12 points, 14 rebounds, on a crazy 60 percent from the field. Now the field goal percentage doesn’t tell the whole story obviously because he doesn’t shoot threes at all or hardly anything other than a dunk or put back.

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Still, 60 percent is impressive, and what he doesn’t get in points he makes up for in rebounds, blocks, and screen assists.

Gobert doesn’t have the polished offensive game of some of the other great centers in the league like Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid, but his impact on the defensive end has been at the top of the NBA since he has entered the league.

Gobert is more along the lines of how DeAndre Jordan was used on those “lob city” Clippers teams a few years back, a lot of dunks, a lot of missed free throws, and a lot of blocks. Gobert has taken what Jordan used to do and turned it up a notch or two. Which earned him a huge contract extension with the Jazz that will pay Rudy $205 million over the next five seasons.

Utah’s next three games are at home, one against the New York Knicks and two against the Dallas Mavericks. All three games are tough but winnable games judging by the other team’s record and roster. If the season ended today, the Jazz would be the third seed and homecourt in the playoffs. That got me thinking, if they were a homecourt playoff team, would there be more expectations for them to get further? Are they serious contenders? The reason I’m bringing this up is because of their recent playoff narratives.

2016-17, the last Gordon Hayward led Jazz team, they were fun, they upset the Clippers in the first round then got swept by the Warriors in the second round. They were excited, nobody picked them to win a Game 7 in LA and they did it. Two words come to mind in that scenario, “House Money.”

2017-18, Donovan Mitchell’s rookie year. Same story, nobody picked the Jazz to even make the postseason, but Mitchell plays out of his mind, gets them in the playoffs. They get a matchup which on paper would put Utah as the underdog against the OKC Thunder. However, that was the first year of the Russel Westbrook, Paul George, and Carmelo Anthony experiment.

That Thunder squad was a mess internally, the Jazz takes the series in six games. Then, they go play the Rockets in the second round and lose in five, but it doesn’t matter because the Jazz was playing with house money at that point.

2018-19, Utah has a decent season and get the 5th seed, still not a homecourt playoff team. They get a bad matchup and play the Houston Rockets again, except in the first round this time. They lose in five games as the Rockets were truly better than what their 4th seed season really was. So. once again, the Jazz has an excuse on why they had another early exit.

And the latest exit, 2019-20. They finish the season in the NBA bubble as the 7th seed, in other words, an “underdog.” They have a series for the ages against the 2nd seeded Denver Nuggets in which Denver’s Jamal Murray and Utah’s Donovan Mitchell battled the entire series. Unfortunately for Utah, they lose in seven games. Another excuse working for Utah was the circumstances, of course, the NBA bubble was an adjustment and they were down one of their starters, Bojan Bogdanovic.

With Utah being fully healthy, playing well, and with their front office keeping their core together for another run, I wonder if the expectations will be higher this year. If they are a top 4 seed by the end of the season I’m not sure a first-round exit will be tolerated.

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I don’t believe there will be any excuses working for them at this time. I put a lot of stock in this current win streak that they are on and anticipate them being a top 4 seed. What I’m not sold on is if Utah can be the “favorite” when there is more pressure and do what is expected of them in the playoffs. Only time will tell.

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