What team is the fourth best in the Western Conference?
Is it the Los Angeles Clippers?
No.
Is it the Oklahoma City Thunder?
No.
Is it the Memphis Grizzlies?
No.
The fourth best team in the Western Conference is the Utah Jazz. Yes, the NBA has a team in Utah. Salt Lake City to be exact.
But first…
On TNT, two teams under .500 battled to improve their lottery chances as the New York Knicks take on the Chicago Bulls. That’s followed by the Golden State Warriors’ bench players hosting the San Antonio Spurs bench players.
At the time of writing this article, the Utah Jazz are 15 games over .500 and have a game and a half lead over the Clippers for the fourth seed in the Western Conference Playoffs.
If the postseason started right now, the Jazz would have court advantage in the first round—a claim Russell Westbrook’s Thunder can’t make.
The Jazz have a better winning percentage than all but two teams in the Eastern Conference (Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics). That means, the Jazz are the league’s sixth best team.
The Jazz don’t lead any major statistical category. Besides margin of victory, they aren’t even in the top ten in any category that matters (or makes sense).
As for margin of victory, the Jazz are fifth at 3.94.
They are third in “defensive rating.” Since the teams with the top defensive ratings are the Spurs and Warriors, the Jazz must be good at stopping teams from scoring.
Utah is fourth in “net rating.” That’s when players log onto Twitter and rate the internet.
Despite all their victories, you never see them on television and they’re never talked about in the national media. Meanwhile, James Harden, who doesn’t play defense, gets talked about ad nauseam.
Even when it comes to small town NBA action, the Jazz our left out. The Denver Nuggets and Portland Trail Blazers get all that kind of attention.
Those two behemoths are fighting for the eighth seed or the chance to be swept by the Golden State Warriors in the first round.
Can you name a Utah Jazz player? No, I don’t mean Karl Malone and John Stockton.
Can you name a player currently on the Jazz’s roster?
Okay, can you name a player other Gordon Hayward? He was the club’s only All-Star.
How about George Hill, Joe Johnson, Boris Diaw, or Derrick Favors?
Your Utah Jazz are coached by Dee Snyder—sorry, Quin Snyder. I always get those two guys confused.
How will the Jazz do in the postseason?
Well, their potential first round opponent are the Clippers. They’ve already lost to them twice.
The franchise is currently dealing with Derrick Favors’ knee injury. Yet, they have had some success with Joe Johnson at the four.
Ultimately, the Jazz will go as far as Gordon Hayward takes them. When his shot is falling, the Jazz are tough beat. In fact, when the Jazz score, they are tough to beat.
More than likely their lack of offense will be their undoing. The Utah Jazz can stop teams from scoring, but they won’t be able to generate enough offense to go deep into the playoffs.
Nonetheless, I’ll still be pulling for the Jazz this postseason. Not because I’m a fan, but to spite the NBA and their television partners who continually talk up lesser teams, like the Clippers, Thunder, Knicks, and Bulls.
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