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Jazz 2017/18 Playoff Bus! All Aboard!

Eenie-Meenie said:
Right now the Jazz aren't really playing very well. Probably would've lost to Griz if they had played Gasol in the 4th, barely beat a depleted Lakers -- both of those at home, lost to a depleted Celtics team. They can't seem to stop the 3-point shot when you come down to it. Rudy is a great rim protector but when teams start draining 3's, Rudy becomes a liability. You saw what happened against the Celtics. They really could use Thabo right now.
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Whatever man. Houston beat suns by 1, Portland lost to dallas last night (and it wasn't that close). We have had a few tough losses lately (hawks and Celtics) but we easily could have won each of them.

Look at our record over the last 30 or so games. We are playing great compared to every other team in the entire league. All teams lose some games here and there against teams they should beat.
 
It's nice to wake up and see Utah in the 4 spot but LAC will essentially be playing an elimination game for the rest of the season. My guess is they're a real tough out on Thursday.

I don't think LAL shoots like that again on Sunday - QS was critical but they also hit a ton of contested shots. My only fear is it sounds like the team will spend Friday and Saturday in LA - they could get lost in the sauce.

From the sounds of it last night, Portland might be shutting down Lillard for the rest of the regular season.
 
Ellis269 said:
Jazz aren’t in the clear yet. Take care of business. Win a couple more games and then worry about playoff matchups. Nuggets aren’t going anywhere, and it wouldn’t surprise me if they sneak in as the 8th seed. Don’t want to see that happen at the Jazz expense. Getting to the playoffs is a hell of an accomplishment at this point. I think it’s really important for Rudy and Donovan to get some postseason experience (and hopefully success) to help convince LeBron to come to Utah and bring a title to the jazz.
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fixed.
Would be quite a legacy for him. Bring titles to two franchises that never won one before. He would be even more legendary than ever. Rubio, Mitchell, ingles, LeBron (the ultimate stretch 4) and gobert looks pretty good on paper lol.
 
Ellis269 said:
Jazz aren’t in the clear yet. Take care of business. Win a couple more games and then worry about playoff matchups. Nuggets aren’t going anywhere, and it wouldn’t surprise me if they sneak in as the 8th seed. Don’t want to see that happen at the Jazz expense. Getting to the playoffs is a hell of an accomplishment at this point. I think it’s really important for Rudy and Donovan to get some postseason experience (and hopefully success) to help launch the Jazz as a top 5 team in the NBA.
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Grab that 3 seed and I would argue that the Jazz are ALREADY a top 5 team in the NBA.
 
candrew said:
It's nice to wake up and see Utah in the 4 spot but LAC will essentially be playing an elimination game for the rest of the season. My guess is they're a real tough out on Thursday.

I don't think LAL shoots like that again on Sunday - QS was critical but they also hit a ton of contested shots. My only fear is it sounds like Utah will spend Friday and Saturday in LA - they could get lost in the sauce.

From the sounds of it last night, Portland might be shutting down Lillard for the rest of the regular season.
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We are better than both la teams. We win both. We beat Portland with no lillard and warriors don't want us in the first round so they lay down and give us a win to keep us high up in the standings.

In reality I think we go 2-2 or 3-1
 
Ellis269 said:
Jazz aren’t in the clear yet. Take care of business. Win a couple more games and then worry about playoff matchups. Nuggets aren’t going anywhere, and it wouldn’t surprise me if they sneak in as the 8th seed. Don’t want to see that happen at the Jazz expense. Getting to the playoffs is a hell of an accomplishment at this point. I think it’s really important for Rudy and Donovan to get some postseason experience (and hopefully success) to help launch the Jazz as a top 5 team in the NBA.
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Playoff experience is an overrated talking point. These guys are conditioned to look toward the next game and give it their all. Sure, they get lackadaisical at times during the season but the same is true for a pre-season rollover.

The value here is in luring a big name free agent. Utah needs to win the first round handily and then punch Houston in the throat for 6 games. Nothing says "come join us" better than that.

Clear space for the guy we should have drafted over Haywood.
 
Eenie-Meenie said:
Right now the Jazz aren't really playing very well. Probably would've lost to Griz if they had played Gasol in the 4th, barely beat a depleted Lakers -- both of those at home, lost to a depleted Celtics team. They can't seem to stop the 3-point shot when you come down to it. Rudy is a great rim protector but when teams start draining 3's, Rudy becomes a liability. You saw what happened against the Celtics. They really could use Thabo right now.
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100% true. It has been a while since we have beat a good team that had their full cast of characters. We have been narrowly winning games against teams we should handle relatively easily and getting beat by the Hawks and a very undermanned Celtic team. We are far from out of the woods. Agree that if Gasol had played the 4th that game is in question. We showed up in Minny but that is about it. We will need to play a lot better the next 4 or keep catching breaks to finish where we want.
 
gomretat said:
100% true. It has been a while since we have beat a good team that had their full cast of characters. We have been narrowly winning games against teams we should handle relatively easily and getting beat by the Hawks and a very undermanned Celtic team. We are far from out of the woods. Agree that if Gasol had played the 4th that game is in question. We showed up in Minny but that is about it. We will need to play a lot better the next 4 or keep catching breaks to finish where we want.
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Jazz net rating:
February: 4th
March: 1st
Post all-star: 3rd
Last 15 games: 2nd
Last 10 games: 3rd
Last 5 games: 3rd

Currently sitting 4th in the Western conference. In basketball, games get dropped. It happens. Jazz are playing great basketball.
 
Without looking at three and four way tiebreakers, in which I think Portland would still do well because of going 8-4 against the Pelicans, Thunder and T-Wolves, the worst case for Portland appears to be the 6 seed because they own the tiebreakers over OKC and New Orleans. They have a really challenging schedule -- road games against San Antonio, Houston and Denver and the last game at home vs. the Jazz. Houston has nothing to play for but D'Antonio has stated he wants to keep the team in a groove.

It goes without saying that Lillard being shut down for the remainder of the regular season is no small deal. As long as the Jazz take care of business with the LA teams and a Golden State team that will quite possibly have nothing to play for in Salt Lake, there's a decent chance the Jazz will be playing for the 3 seed.
 
MDAV28 said:
Jazz net rating:
February: 4th
March: 1st
Post all-star: 3rd
Last 15 games: 2nd
Last 10 games: 3rd
Last 5 games: 3rd

Currently sitting 4th in the Western conference. In basketball, games get dropped. It happens. Jazz are playing great basketball.
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No kidding, if you extrapolate the record over the last 31 games (a fairly substantial sample size), it's a 68 or 69 win team. Aldridge had literally the best game of his career, was hitting everything, the game was in San Antonio and the Spurs still needed overtime to win it. A depleted team like Boston can still win a game if they're coached well and they hit close to 60% of their 3 point shots. It's not like the shots weren't defended. If Boston 'merely' shoots 50 % from 3 in that game, they lose. Since the first Hawks game, the Jazz have literally only had one letdown -- the second game against the Hawks.
 
Damian Lillard is going to be out a few games with a sprained ankle. Looking at Portland's schedule, it's really tough. They have Houston, San Antonio, Denver and us remaining. Everyone but Houston has something to play for. Without Lillard, I could see them losing at least 3 of those games.

They're not out of reach if we can get to 48 wins. If we can match San Antonio win for win from here, we could take the 3rd seed and probably draw OKC or MIN.
 
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