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Utah Jazz win streak leads to burst in NBA Power Rankings

Utah’s offensive explosion left the media with no choice but to #TakeNote.

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NBA: New Orleans Pelicans at Utah Jazz Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports

Even before last night’s evisceration of the Washington Wizards, the Utah Jazz were on a six-game win streak the likes of which is rarely seen in the NBA, punctuated by Donovan Mitchell’s incredible 41 point effort against the New Orleans Pelicans. Their offensive rating is through the roof, and they’re blasting teams by 20 points on the regular. This simply can’t last (or can it?), but let’s just enjoy it while it does. As a result, the Jazz are almost unanimously a top-15 team according to the national media. They’ve taken giant leaps in the power rankings over the last two weeks, jumping 11 spots in ESPN, SI and NBA.com’s rankings.

How the Utah Jazz were ranked.

Publication Preseason Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 Week 9
Publication Preseason Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 Week 9
ESPN.com 12 11 18 13 20 20 19 15 16 18
CBS Sports 18 18 21 12 23 22 17 11 13 18
SI.com 18 15 18 22 24 26 21 15 18 20
NBA.com 12 9 14 14 20 23 19 12 15 17
Rotoworld - 11 18 17 22 20 19 16 17 19
USA Today - 13 17 14 20 17 16 12 10 10
FiveThirtyEight 9 8 11 11 16 12 14 9 10 9
SLC Dunk - 10 15 15 22 22 19 10 12 15

ESPN.com

The Jazz have won their past five games by an average of 19.4 points. They've made at least 12 3-pointers in each of those, the longest such streak in franchise history. In Utah's last win over the Pelicans, Donovan Mitchell became the first rookie with a 40-point game since Blake Griffin in 2010-11 and the first rookie in Jazz history to drop 40 in a game. -- Vincent Johnson

CBS Sports

Don't look now, but the Jazz are on a five game winning streak, and Donovan Mitchell is a big part of why. The rookie guard is really starting to come into his own, and he's even got a 40-point game under his belt.

SI.com

I can’t tell if Utah is as bad as I thought it was two weeks ago and is simply downing bad opponents, or if this is actually a good team. The Jazz are second in offensive rating, first in assist-to-turnover ratio and fifth in True Shooting % over the past two weeks. They’ve been legitimately great on offense, too. I'm taking the wait–and–see approach for now.

NBA.com

The Jazz have won five straight games thanks to some huge second halves. They've won the final 24 minutes by 18 or more points in four of the five games, scoring a ridiculous 134 points per 100 second-half possessions over the streak. Derrick Favors has seemingly found himself as the starting center and has made 21 of his 23 second-half shots over the five games. The Jazz have been without Rodney Hood for the last three, but Alec Burks has had the best mini-stretch of the season (averaging 22 points on 57 percent shooting over the three games) and Donovan Mitchell blew up on Friday, scoring 41 points (29 in the second half) in what was maybe Utah's most important win of the season. Rudy Gobert's status has been upgraded to "questionable" for Monday's game against Washington.

Rotoworld

Utah has themselves a player in rookie Donovan Mitchell, who exploded for 41 points, four rebounds, four assists and six 3-pointer in the Jazz's victory over the Pelicans on Friday night. Mitchell became just the fifth rookie in NBA history to score more than 40 points and knock down more than five treys in a single game. It also looks like Rudy Gobert (knee) is inching closer to a return. Gobert went through a light practice on Sunday and is being listed as questionable for Monday's game against the Wizards.

SLC Dunk

Alright, Jazz. Enough. I’m in. You’re a top-10 team, at least until you come down from this inexplicable high. I have the advantage over the rest of these rankings in seeing if Rudy Gobert’s return ruined the offense (Spoiler alert: It didn’t). Donovan Mitchell is playing like a veteran, Alec Burks is playing the best ball of his career and Utah’s island of misfit role players are playing like stars. If they’re just hitting their stride, it’s coming at a great time and the Jazz have a chance to get some huge wins soon.