Story Created:
Nov 18, 2009
Story Updated:
Nov 18, 2009
PK BLOG
Now or maybe never for the Jazz
Seven out eight at home, against some of the NBA’s dregs. In other words, it’s now or next season for the Jazz.
Between now and Dec. 4, the Jazz leave Utah only once, briefly stopping down around San Antonio to play the Spurs. The other seven games are all at EnergySolutions Arena, where the Jazz absolutely must re-establish homecourt dominance.
If the Jazz have any intention of making a serious playoff push - and getting smoked in five games in the first round doesn’t count – they must beat up on the likes of Toronto, Detroit, Oklahoma City and Minnesota. No matter that they aren’t at full strength, the Jazz are done with excuses.
At 4-6, the Jazz rank among the league’s most disappointing teams. And it means nothing.
The NBA’s track record shows that many elite teams have struggled over the first month, most notably the Spurs and Mavericks in recent seasons. But eventually all strong teams take advantage of favorable schedules.
Coming off a 2-2 road trip, the Jazz vibe has changed dramatically. Two weeks ago, this was a team that lost to Houston and Sacramento at home in the same week.
Now, the thinking goes, this is a team that has discovered two promising rookies to mesh with a solid nucleus, which is still missing two injured rotation players in C.J. Miles and Kyle Korver. With Wesley Matthews and Eric Mayor proving capable, suddenly expectations have dramatically risen.
Why?
When Deron Williams had to return home for his daughter’s medical reasons, the outlook appeared gloomy. But the Jazz regrouped to beat the lousy Philadelphia 76ers and could have beaten the LeBron James Gang if Andrei Kirilenko had taken his one-year exemption of ignoring the offense.
With Williams out, we saw a group of veterans raise its collective level of play, rallying around two rookies who didn’t know any better. So now the assumption is that reincorporating an elite-level point guard into the mix, combined with great play from Carlos Boozer and friends, will make this team awfully difficult to beat.
Hold on a minute.
For better or worse, this is D-Will’s team. His return could lead to more stagnant play, although it wouldn’t be necessarily his fault; the other players simply could fall into a pattern of standing around, thinking that Williams will find a way to create something.
For this team to win, it must maintain the same attitude it had the last two road games. Anything less, as we saw against the Kings at home, and these two weeks will be nothing more than wasted time.
At worse, the favorable schedule should result in 6-2. Since it seems like Jerry Sloan was in his 40s the last time the Jazz won in San Antonio, it’s reasonable to conclude this Thursday’s game is a loss.
Plus, it comes on the second night of a back-to-back. Two games on consecutive nights usually don’t lead to winning streaks, as we saw last week when Phoenix won at home and then got drilled by the Lakers the next night, only to have the Lakers lose big at Denver on the second half of their back-to-back.
But other than the Spurs game, the Jazz don’t have any reason to lose. For more than two years, they’ve been blowing winnable games, and now it’s got to stop.
If the disturbing pattern continues, then maybe management should seriously consider wholesale changes
