That’s right, boys and girls. The Utah Jazz—the Utah Jazz who many thought were doomed to pick 10th in the draft, left with a bunch of spare parts and Rudy Gobert—are in a must-win situation in the playoffs. Oh, there will be other games if they lose, but digging out of an 0-2 hole is tough.

As of now, though, all is not lost. If the Jazz win, they’ll steal homecourt advantage from the Thunder.

Reasons to Hope:

The Jazz actually played OKC pretty well on Sunday. Did it ever feel like they were in control besides when they were up 16-4? Nah, not really. But that was because we were introduced to Playoff Paul George. Russell Westbrook deferred to his teammate, who shot lights-out. He’s still going to be PG13, but it’s hard to imagine Quin Snyder adjusting his defensive schemes to contain him at least a little.

Secondly, Utah missed a ton of shots that they usually hit. Open shots. Layups. Joe Ingles three-pointers. A few more of those have to go in. Right? In Quin Snyder we trust!

Reasons to Worry:

Sure, the Jazz need to contain Paul George. But know who else they need to contain? That’s right, they need to check Russell “I-don’t-care-about-stats” Westbrook. They did a decent job of turning Russell into a jump shooter on Sunday, but that’s not an easy task.

Steven Adams is a beast. Assuming his hand is okay, he’ll still be a beast tonight. He can and does push and grab Rudy Gobert in the paint, and the referees have mostly swallowed their whistles so far. One thing that sometimes hurts the Stifle Tower is discouragement with officiating. He lets it affect his game at times.

This:

This is a mixture of good and bad news, but I’m putting it in the “worry” section because without Donovan we are toast.

Game Info:

When: Wednesday, Apr. 18, 2018 •6 PM MT

Where: Chesapeake Energy Arena • Oklahoma City, OK

TV: NBATV, AT&T Sports Net - Rocky Mountain

Radio: 1280 AM/97.5 FM The Zone

Injuries:

Utah Jazz:

Donovan Mitchell - foot contusion - probable

Thabo Sefolosha - knee - out for season

Oklahoma City Thunder:

Paul George - hip contusion - questionable, but there’s no way he doesn’t play.

Andre Roberson - knee - out for season

What to Watch For: Defense

The Jazz did what they needed to do defensively. They scared OKC out of the paint to a reasonable degree and forced a lot of midrange jumpers. They’re going to have to put the clamps down even more, though, and chase PG off the 3pt line. And don’t forget about Carmelo Anthony. Basically, the Jazz need to not let OKC shoot so many threes. Easy, right?

Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports

Another thing to watch for is the play of Joe Ingles. He didn’t shoot well on Sunday, and the Jazz don’t win when Joe has a bad night.

Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports

Most Likely Jazz Killer

Welp. How do you not pick Paul George for this? He killed the Jazz last game, and he’s the hardest player to match up with on OKC’s team. But hey, if they can contain him to even 20 points instead of 36 then the Jazz have a shot.

Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports