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Utah Jazz Season Split: Games 31-40

How were the last 10 games as we approach the halfway point?

By Tavan Parker
NBA: Cleveland Cavaliers at Utah Jazz Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports

I can’t believe 40 games are already in the books. The Utah Jazz currently stand at 24-16, tied with the Memphis Grizzlies for 5th in the West. That winning pace would give us 49 wins at the end of the season. That’s not bad, but now that everyone is back I’m expecting 50+. Sure it will take some time for everyone to get acclimated, but I was at that Cleveland Cavaliers game last night and it was beautiful. When George Hill, Gordon Hayward, and Rudy Gobert all play the Jazz are 9-1. That obviously isn’t sustainable, but it shows how good this group can be. Austin gave us a good look at what lies ahead here, but for now we’ll dissect the last 10 games.

Game Results

Team Stats and Rankings

  • Offensive Rating: 104.7 (25th)— Season: 106.3 (10th)
  • Defensive Rating: 102.0 (4th)— Season: 101.4 (1st)
  • Net Rating: 1.7 (12th)— Season: 4.9 (7th)
  • Pace: 92.98 (20th)— Season: 93.10 (30th)
  • Effective FG%: 51.6 (13th)— Season: 52.6 (6th)
  • FT%: 71.6 (29th)— Season: 75.5 (22nd)
  • 3pt%: 39.0 (7th)— Season: 36.9 (7th)
  • Reb%: 51.1 (12th)— Season: 50.9 (7th)
  • Ast%: 54.3 (24th)— Season: 53.2 (28th)
  • Blocks: 4.1 (23rd) — Season: 5.1 (13th)

Player Statistics

5 Most Used Lineups

  • 51 minutes- George Hill, Rodney Hood, Gordon Hayward, Derrick Favors, Rudy Gobert: 98.5 Off Rtg, 105.5 Def Rtg, +/- -9 overall
  • 50 minutes- Shelvin Mack, Hood, Hayward, Favors, Gobert: 108.2 Off Rtg, 120.4 Def Rtg, +/- -8 overall
  • 28 minutes- Mack, Hayward, Joe Ingles, Trey Lyles, Gobert: 87.8 Off Rtg, 99.4 Def Rtg, +/- -1 overall
  • 26 minutes- Mack, Hayward, Ingles, Boris Diaw, Gobert: 114.8 Off Rtg, 127.5 Def Rtg, +/- -7 overall
  • 15 minutes- Mack, Hood, Hayward, Lyles, Gobert: 114.0 Off Rtg, 115.9 Def Rtg, +/- -17 overall

Tavan’s Takeaways

  • That was definitely a harder portion of our schedule. We had a 5 game road trip, 2 back to backs, and 5 games in 7 nights. Plus the first game off a long road trip is supposed to be really hard as well. We kept our head above water by going 6-4. The schedule is about to lighten up a ton, so expect our record at the end of January to be much improved. Honestly, all the way until early March I see a ton of wins. Hopefully we string 6 or 7 together and get Hayward and/or Gobert to the All Star game. If you remember, I predicted Hayward being an All Star before the season began.
  • Speaking of Hayward, one of my favorite plays the Jazz run is a backdoor oop to him. We run it successfully at least once a game. A wing has the ball on beyond the 3 pt line at the elbow. With everyone spaced out and the big at the top of the key no one is down low. Hayward starts opposite the ball handler either on the wing or in the corner and comes towards him as if he is going to set a screen or take a pass, then bolts to the basket for an uncontested oop. Very simple, yet very effective. I can’t wait for everyone to get into their roles and for Snyder’s playbook to open up a little more. Also, I haven’t been as confident in a player’s shot as I am with Gordon’s right now. 28 points on 12 shots against the LeBron's Cavs was amazing.
  • Favors is slowly coming along, but I really mean slowly. It actually has me a little concerned. He seems to be playing very timid, as if he is worried about getting hurt or is lacking in confidence. He’s also not getting any calls and just seems beat down mentally/emotionally. Hopefully he gets back to that 16 and 8 guy we’ve had the last couple years. I’m really interested to see what he looks like around game 60. (Burks and Exum as well for that matter)
  • I was curious where we stood at this point the last couple years and here’s what I found: after 40 games last year we were 18-22, and the year before we were 14-26. It feels a lot better to have flipped that to 24-16 this year. Last night’s win especially built a lot confidence, as beating the defending champs (who’d only lost 8 games prior to last night) typically does. We’ll only get better from here on out.
  • Free throws have become a red flag for me. Favs and Hill missed both of theirs on 2 occasions last. I haven’t noticed them directly cost us a game yet, but I feel like it’s only a matter of time. There’s particularly no excuse for Mack, Hill, Hood, and Lyles to be shooting so poorly. It’s called the free throw line or charity stripe for a reason. This is critical in late game scenarios and I’d hate for something so simple to influence our record and conference ranking at the end of the season. Imagine coming up a couple free throws short of home court advantage.

What thoughts do you have about the previous 10 games? Aside from Mack occasionally using the shot clock as effectively as this guy...

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