Utah Jazz 2013-2014 Schedule: January review, February review

Well, that was fun, right? The Utah Jazz took advantage of their best ever month (by ease of schedule) and finished with a 6-6 record. The Jazz had some good wins, some great wins, and some bad losses. Utah beat the Milwaukee Bucks at home; the Oklahoma City Thunder at home; the Denver Nuggets at home; the Detroit Pistons on the road; the Washington Wizards at home; and the Sacramento Kings at home. The losses came to the Los Angeles Lakers on the road; the Cleveland Cavaliers at home; the San Antonio Spurs on the road; the Minnesota Timberwolves at home and on the road; and the Golden State Warriors at home.

For the most part the Jazz beat the teams they were supposed to. The surprise wins had to be against the Thunder, and possibly the Pistons (because of the relative records and star power deficit). If there were any surprise losses, you could argue that it could have been against the Lakers (a team the Jazz had of recent times, not have trouble beating in their own building), and maybe the Wolves in Utah. Over all, I think you could say that save for the Gordon Hayward game there were no surprises.

The team had both health and injury swings. And while the team did have a lot of games off (no travel), I don't know if practice had helped or not. The team didn't look better; but did keep their head above water while Hayward, and Derrick Favors were out at times.

January could have been better, but it was okay for me. Now, onwards to February!

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If you look at the month at a glance you see some good things and some bad things. Let's go deeper.

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Week 1: February 1st to 7th

This week is kind of screwed up because it starts on a Saturday. If you started the week normally on a Sunday the rest of this month makes more sense. Anyway .. Clippers tonight. They're playing very well without Chris Paul. I don't need to get into it, this is a loss. Raptors on Monday, this game is the third game in four nights for the Jazz. The Raptors are wing heavy with all-star DeMar DeRozan and Terrence Ross and we don't know how to defend any wings. They also have a solid big in Jonas Valanciunas. We're at home and I can't ever see a Tyrone Corbin coached team drop three games in a row, so this HAS to be a win. The Jazz have three nights off until a double header that's the Mavs, and then the Heat (which is on the 8th, so technically next week). Dallas is tough and trying to make the playoffs, I call this a loss.

Prediction: Jazz go 1-2

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Week 2: February 8th to 14th

This is the other end of that back to back set where we play two teams that formerly played in the NBA Finals against one another. The Heat are tough, but we beat them at least once ever year it seems, so I call this a win. Well, shut up Amar. This is a loss. The next two games are against teams that are tanking. One is on the road in LA, the other is at home. I say we win both of these going into the All-Star Break.

Prediction: 2-1 (Overall: 3-3)

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Week 3: February 15th to 21st

The All-Star game leads to only two "games" this week. Even though, again, we have a Friday/Saturday back to back on schedule (Portland / Minnesota). The Jazz will lose to Brooklyn, feeling the pinch now that most of the season is over. Then we have the trade deadline on the 20th, and the Jazz will do nothing. Then the Jazz will lose to the Blazers in the Rose Garden.

Prediction: Jazz will go 0-2 (Overall: 3-5)

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Week 4: February 22nd to 28th

The Jazz play four games to end this month. The Timberwovles are the second night of a back to back, and the third game in four nights -- so looking at a loss here. Celtics and Suns are both teams we're supposed to be better than, but I can see a split here. And then playing in Cleveland, your guess is as good as mine.

Prediction: Jazz go 1-3 this month (Overall: 4-8)

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Suggesting that the Jazz go 4-8 over the next month isn't that nice to look at. I am willing to be wrong here. What do you guys think?