Utah Jazz get some help to find themselves in fourth in the West

After a win over the Los Angeles Lakers last night and with a little help from teams formerly ahead of them in the standings, the Utah Jazz are now in fourth place in the Western Conference.

The Utah Jazz entered last night’s contest against the Los Angeles Lakers in sixth place in the Western Conference. Considering that it was less than three months ago that the Jazz were sitting at nine games under .500 and appeared stuck in tenth place, being in sixth was nothing to complain about.

However, in the hotly-contested and ever-changing Western Conference, the position of the teams can shuffle on any given night. And that’s exactly what happened yet again on Tuesday night. After defeating the Lakers in a hard-fought contest at Vivint Smart Home Arena, the Utah Jazz moved up to 45-33 on the season.

Meanwhile, thanks to an Oklahoma City Thunder loss to the Golden State Warriors and a San Antonio Spurs loss to the LA Clippers, the Jazz were able to leapfrog them both and move into fourth place, taking a half-game lead over OKC and wrestling the spot away from the Spurs due to owning the tiebreaker over them.

So here we are, with four games left in the regular season, the Utah Jazz find themselves all the way up to fourth place in the Western Conference meaning that if the playoffs started today, they’d have home court advantage in the first round.

But unfortunately, the playoffs don’t start today and the Jazz still have their work cut out for them, not just to stay in fourth place, but to make the playoffs at all! Think about how crazy the West is for a second. Most teams have just four games remaining and yet, only the top three teams in the West have clinched a playoff spot. That means if the Utah Jazz and anybody else seeds 4-8 goes on a slump to end the season, they could find themselves ultimately on the outside looking in.

That’s a scary thought, especially considering that the road ahead is far from easy for Utah. They will face the Clippers on Thursday in a game in which LA will be fighting for their playoff lives. Utah has matched up relatively well against them this season, but haven’t played them since the Blake Griffin trade which has seen newcomer Tobias Harris instill new life in his team. The Clippers looked absolutely impressive in a late comeback win over the Spurs last night, so the Jazz will have to be at their absolute best if they hope to win that game.

Then Utah will head to Staples Center to play the Lakers once more. The Lakers aren’t as daunting of a threat as the Clippers, but as we saw Tuesday night, they can be a handful as they gave the Jazz about all that they could handle. After that, they’ll play their final home game of the year against the Golden State Warriors next Tuesday. As Golden State rounds back into health (with the exception of Steph Curry, who will likely miss the first round of the playoffs), we all know how deadly they can be, assuming they don’t rest any starters.

Last of all, the Jazz will finish off the year with a road bout in Portland. Believe it or not, the Blazers, who were recently thought of as a near-lock to finish the year in the third seed, might actually be in danger of falling out. They hold a three-game lead over the Jazz for that spot, but they also have a tough slate ahead that includes the Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs, Denver Nuggets and of course the Utah Jazz.

To make matters worse for them, Damian Lillard left last night’s bout against the Dallas Mavericks with an apparent ankle sprain. The Blazers will have to be cautious with him, a sentiment that Damian echoed as well, and it’s entirely possible that they hold him out for some of their upcoming games, valuing his health over where they finish in the standings, especially considering that they’ve already clinched a playoff spot.

For the Jazz to catch Portland, they’ll need to win their next three and hope the Blazers drop their next three, which is entirely possible considering the tough opponents they’ll face and the current injury status of Damian Lillard. If those two things came together, then the final bout of the year between Utah and Portland would be for the third seed. Talk about an intense race and a potentially crazy way to end the season.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. As I stated, while moving into fourth place is an amazing accomplishment, let’s not forget that the Jazz could still very well drop out of the playoff hunt entirely if they’re not careful! As of right now, they need two more wins to clinch a spot and likely three (if not all four) to remain in a spot that will provide them with home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

Whether they get there or not, this has still been an amazing season that’s featured a mind-blowing turnaround for the Jazz. Following the loss to the Atlanta Hawks back on January 22nd that sent Utah nine games below .500, no one imagined the Jazz would be in the thick of the playoff race, let alone fighting for home court advantage.

Yet here they are, in fourth place and controlling their own destiny to finish in the top four (and perhaps even top three) in the West.

Buckle up, Jazz fans, we’re in for an exhilarating final week of the regular season.

• Published on 04/04/2018 at 8:41 AM MDT
• Last updated on 04/04/2018 at 8:41 AM MDT