On December 26, the Utah Jazz had become losers of four straight games and were about to take on two of the NBA’s hybrid-darling contenders: Detroit and San Antonio. At 10-19, many would consider this the moment that the Jazz embraced the tank in full and threw the season away. Two days later, the Jazz had their most impressive victories of the season, signaling that no team should take the night off against them.
Beating the Pistons and Spurs is no easy feat at all. In fact, it would have been hard to find one person who thought the Jazz would win either of their last two games. Let alone both. But perhaps what’s the biggest surprise is that even if these two wins were close, it was in fact the Jazz who controlled the pace of the game.
The return of Lauri Markkanen changes the Jazz’s dynamic. He and Keyonte George make the Jazz a formidable opponent for just about any other team. However, over these last few games, other Jazzmen like Brice Sensabaugh, Kevin Love, Jusuf Nurkic, Isaiah Collier, Walter Clayton Jr., and… Cody Williams (?!).
The Pistons and Spurs walked into those games believing it would be an easy route for them, but the Jazz showed them in the harshest way that even with all the losing, they are not to be taken lightly. They may not be among the NBA’s best teams, but when this team has its (Walker Kessler-less) roster intact, they are talented enough to make those that are considered the best work for it.
Detroit, San Antonio, and any other team in a similar stratosphere should be aware of that going forward.
Is this good for the Jazz?
Yup, you probably knew this was coming. With every win comes with the question if it truly is in the Jazz’s best interest to win games like these because their draft position is in a very delicate state. A few too many wins, and bam, it goes to Oklahoma City.
It’s bad enough that fans push for the tank, but the extra incentive to play keep away from the Thunder makes it harder to stomach wins when doing so only pushes the odds out of Utah’s favor of keeping their pick. That certainly rears its ugly head when they win games against teams that many thought were penciled in as losses.
It is awesome to see that Utah can, in fact, play with the best of the best when the team is on its A-game. But if all of this comes at the cost of forking over a lottery pick, games like these are hard not to ignore.
No one should jump to conclusions until the Jazz’s true vision comes to light, but as awesome as these past few wins have been, they can make things go terribly wrong.