NBA Playoffs 2017: Utah Jazz vs Golden State Warriors Schedule and Primer

The Golden State Warriors won the NBA Championship, lost in the NBA Finals in a Game 7, and then added Kevin Durant. This is, if they are ever going to play at their best ability, the best team we’ve ever seen. Period. The Utah Jazz finally made the playoffs, and they are playing with free money right now. They won 50 games, won the division, and won a round in the NBA Playoffs. I’m happy with that. Everything after that is gravy.

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Rosters:

Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

It’s the player’s who play the game and win them. These are the guys who are going to be difference makers.

Starters:

• PG: George Hill vs. Stephen Curry - CP3 and now Steph? The West is just brutal on point guards
• SG: Joe Ingles vs. Klay Thompson - Ingles stuffed J.J. in round one, Klay will be much tougher
• SF: Gordon Hayward vs. Kevin Durant - If these guys tire each other out that would be great
• PF: Boris Diaw vs. Draymond Green - This could be interesting
• C: Rudy Gobert vs. Zaza Pachulia - Rudy needs to dominate on offense here, that’s the key

Bench Rotation:

• PG: Raul Neto vs. Shaun Livingston - Livingston played in only one game, but he has length and can still be a huge problem. Ray Felton was a problem last round
• SG: Rodney Hood vs. Ian Clark - Yeah, kinda wish we had Ian still
• SF: Joe Johnson vs. Andre Iguodala - This is the series right here, right?
• PF: Derrick Favors vs. David West - Scowls vs disrespect from the refs
• C: Jeff Withey vs. JaVale McGee - I don’t see Jeff playing much, but JaVale can be dangerous when on the court with four great players

The Deepness:

• PG: Shelvin Mack vs. ____________
• SG: Dante Exum vs. Patrick McCaw
• SF: Alec Burks vs. Matt Barnes
• PF: Joel Bolomboy vs. Kevon Looney
• C: Trey Lyles vs. James Michael McAdoo
• Cx2: ___________ vs. Damian Jones

Injuries:

• Alec Burks (UTA) is out for Game 1
• Kevon Looney (GSW) is out for Game 1
• Shaun Livingston (GSW) questionable for Game 1
• Matt Barnes (GSW) is probable for Game 1
• Derrick Favors (UTA) is probable for Game 1

The deeper you go the better it looks for the Jazz; however, it’s clear that the Warriors are really ahead at the top of their rotation. But we knew that.

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Schedule:

Jaime Valdez-USA TODAY Sports

1. Tuesday, May 2nd: UTA @ GSW (8:30 p.m. TNT)
2. Thursday, May 4th: UTA @ GSW (8:30 p.m. ESPN)
3. Saturday, May 6th: GSW @ UTA (6:30 p.m. ABC)
4. Monday, May 8th: GSW @ UTA (TBD, TNT)
5. Wednesday, May 10th: UTA @ GSW (TBD, TNT) *
6. Friday, May 12th: GSW @ UTA (TBD, ESPN) *
7. Sunday, May 14th: UTA @ GSW (TBD, TBD) *

• If necessary

So there’s no Sunday games, if you are taking note of that . . . unless it goes to a Game 7.

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History:

Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images

In the regular season the Warriors and Jazz only played three games, and the Jazz went 1-2 against them. Historically, over the last four plus decades of basketball, the Jazz are 104-73 against the Warriors in the regular season (source 1, source 2); but only 6-7 in the NBA Playoffs (source 3, source 4). The three times they met in the playoffs have been foundational parts of my own Jazz fan experience.

• 1987: [5] Warriors beat [4] Jazz 3-2 in the 1st round (source)
• 1989: [7] Warriors beat [2] Jazz 3-0 in the 1st round (source)
• 2007: [5] Jazz beat [8] Warriors 4-1 in the 2nd round (source)

Twice the Jazz got beat down, badly by Don Nelson and his crew. And twice the lower seed beat the higher seed. I don’t see that happening this year though. I would really love it if the team wins this series, but that’s unlikely.

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Who Wins?

So who is going to win this game? Well, according to WhoWins.com they had this to say about this series:

WhoWins.com

So, maybe we win if Gordon plays like LeBron James? I’m all for that. But according to ESPN, and all the other media outlets, this is a Golden State Warriors win and most likely in five games.