I have long considered this, but once I got challenged by Shums in tonight's game thread I figured I would do a quick investigation.  I have figured that if the Jazz have a good third quarter (minus the Dallas game back on Nov. 3rd) they will usually win the game.  Usually the 3rd quarter will tell the tale of whether I want to watch the 4th quarter.  I did some quick investigating and here is a quarter by quarter break down in both wins and losses.

In Jazz wins the average points per quarter are:

Jazz - 27.8 - 27.0 - 26.9 - 23.8

Opp - 23.7 - 24.0 - 23.4 - 22.8

In a Jazz loss the average points per quarter are:

Jazz - 25.5 - 25.0 - 19.5 - 24.3

Opp - 24.5 - 26.7 - 26.8 - 27.2

The Jazz are close to the same in wins and losses except for the 7.4 point drop in the 3rd quarter! 

I am glad that the numbers back up what I have been thinking.

Another glaring number is in the 4th quarter.  The opponents are scoring 4.4 more points in a Jazz loss.

I don't get why the Jazz are coming out so flat in the 3rd quarter.  Any ideas?