Utah Jazz Downbeat #2063 - Playoffs are back, Baby!

Okay, we get it. The Utah Jazz lost on the Weekend. But there’s so much right around the corner to be hyped up about that we can’t fixate on the past. Rudy Gobert should be Defensive player of the Year. Gordon Hayward is having a career year. And the Playoffs are back in Utah, baby!

Okay, so the Utah Jazz lost to the San Antonio Spurs last afternoon. It’s not the end of the world. The Jazz, for all the ups and downs and injuries, are still the 5th best team in the league according to the numbers. So there’s no reason to hang your heads. And more importantly, there are still five more games on the schedule:

1. Portland Trail Blazers @ Utah Jazz, on Tuesday
2. Minnesota Timberwolves @ Utah Jazz, on Friday
3. Utah Jazz @ Portland Trail Blazers, on Saturday,
4. Utah Jazz @ Golden State Warriors, on Monday,
5. and San Antonio Spurs @ Utah Jazz, on Wednesday.

Each of those games is going to be interesting. Portland has recently lost Jusuf Nurkic and are fighting for the 8th seed right now. But they are also going to be more tired than they should be because tonight is the make-up game where they have to play against the T-Wolves. The Wolves were already going to be tired, but now should be beat when they finally play against the Jazz.

The Warriors may have Kevin Durant back, he is playing on Saturday, or at least that’s the target. That means he could be a green light for Monday, or on a minutes restriction. Either way, you can spin it as a good thing for the Jazz. If KD plays he will mess up their current cohesion. If he doesn’t play, then you don’t have to guard him.

Of course, Fan Appreciation night will be on the last night of the season this year. And it will be hosting the Spurs. The very same Spurs that just beat the Jazz. Something tells me that Pop will be more than willing to go easy on our guys.

I can’t put my finger on it, or anything . . . but that’s just a feeling I’m getting. They will have the #2 seed all locked up, and most likely resting.

I don’t live in Utah, but this is specifically the time of year I really wish I did. Especially this year.

But Utah seems like a great place all year round. Who could say otherwise when you have things like this to look forward to.

Yes. 16-Bit Gordon Hayward will haunt your dreams.

If you are not a video game guy you do still have the actual NBA playoffs to go crazy for. FiveThirtyEight.com finally have changed their prediction for the Utah Jazz to make the playoffs at >99% to a check mark. This is notable because Utah clinched like 10 days ago. It was annoying, to say the least, that their model did not accurately reflect reality. But then again, it’s not the first time they goofed.

And as the Playoffs are around the corner, the overall NBA “Gosh, we gotta start acting like we knew Utah existed all along” hype train is beginning. Love this, regardless that they should have been promoting the Jazz months ago.

Keen observers may notice Alec Lam in this video, by the way. You can reach his archived stuff here!

And yes, that’s right. Write for SLC Dunk and you may end up getting a job with the Jazz or the Jazz media wing (We see you too Andy Blarsen)!

Who do you think is working their butt off in practice more: Trey Lyles or Joel Bolomboy?

Rudy Gobert should be the Defensive player of the year.

It’s probably not going to be. But that doesn’t make it right. Good luck to the rest of the league if he doesn’t get it this year.