Lion's Roar
Active Member
I put out there a lot of tweets about this today but it's hard to explain this in under 140 characters.
So here are the scenarios:
If Utah wins both remaining games against Houston and Golden State (both on the road) the Jazz will be in playoff position independent of the other games between the Playoff 4. Not only that it will pretty much guarantee the tiebreaker in any 2 or 3 team scenario cause the Jazz would be 2-1 against LA, 2-2 against Houston and GS. The second tiebreaker is conference winning % and they would have a significant advantage over Houston and about tied with GS.
If Utah loses both remaining games the Jazz would be in the 9th spot whatever the outcome of the Lakers vs GS (2 games) and LAL Vs Houston (1 games). That means they would have to make up for at least 2 games in the remaining schedule. The better thing for Utah at that stage would be if LAL loses all 3 games. The Jazz would have to make up only 1 game in that scenario. Still not a cake walk.
If Utah wins against GS but loses against Houston then the only scenario where they aren't out looking in is if the Lakers lose all 3 games.
If Utah wins at Houston but loses against GS the Jazz would be in playoff position if LAL lose all three of it's games. It would be on the outisde trying to make up 1/2 a game or 1 game in most scenarios.
So the most important game for Utah is the Houston one. Winning that one would leave the Jazz in a good position to make the playoff and pretty much dependent on itself. If the Jazz lose to Houston then things become pretty bleak trying to either hope the Lakers lose all 3 OR trying to make up for 2 games over an 18 game schedule.
So here are the scenarios:
If Utah wins both remaining games against Houston and Golden State (both on the road) the Jazz will be in playoff position independent of the other games between the Playoff 4. Not only that it will pretty much guarantee the tiebreaker in any 2 or 3 team scenario cause the Jazz would be 2-1 against LA, 2-2 against Houston and GS. The second tiebreaker is conference winning % and they would have a significant advantage over Houston and about tied with GS.
If Utah loses both remaining games the Jazz would be in the 9th spot whatever the outcome of the Lakers vs GS (2 games) and LAL Vs Houston (1 games). That means they would have to make up for at least 2 games in the remaining schedule. The better thing for Utah at that stage would be if LAL loses all 3 games. The Jazz would have to make up only 1 game in that scenario. Still not a cake walk.
If Utah wins against GS but loses against Houston then the only scenario where they aren't out looking in is if the Lakers lose all 3 games.
If Utah wins at Houston but loses against GS the Jazz would be in playoff position if LAL lose all three of it's games. It would be on the outisde trying to make up 1/2 a game or 1 game in most scenarios.
So the most important game for Utah is the Houston one. Winning that one would leave the Jazz in a good position to make the playoff and pretty much dependent on itself. If the Jazz lose to Houston then things become pretty bleak trying to either hope the Lakers lose all 3 OR trying to make up for 2 games over an 18 game schedule.
