The next 10 games will test the Utah Jazz

Things are going pretty well right now for the Utah Jazz. They got Mike Conley back from his hamstring injury, won 18 of their last 20 games, and have two of their stars slated to make their full All-Star selections. They’ve benefited from a soft portion of their schedule and have really gotten things together as a team. They have climbed all the way back up into sole possession of the 2 seed in the Western Conference. The Utah Jazz are on a roll, and BUSINESS IS BOOMIN’. But... (there’s always a but).. looking at the schedule for the next 10 games before the All-Star break, the Jazz are about to have their work cut out for them.

Starting with an early afternoon game this Saturday against the Dallas Mavericks, things are about the get real. Over the next two and half weeks, the Jazz will face current playoff teams in 7 of 10 games. The three games against non-playoff teams are against the Spurs and Blazers, both of which are teams within two games of being playoff teams. The other games will be huge matchups against teams that the Jazz are going to be battling with until the very last game of the season. They get Dallas, Denver, and Houston two times each. Trying to avoid any unnecessary hype for these games, but THEY ARE VERY IMPORTANT GAMES. It seems every year playoff seeding comes down to the very last game for a lot of teams, and this year is going to be absolutely critical. If the Jazz have a bad stretch of games during the next two weeks, it could be the difference between the 2 seed and the 6 or 7 seed, which is pretty unreal. The Jazz are playing their best basketball at the moment, and they will need to keep it up over this stretch to stay near the top of the Western Conference standings.

Luckily, half of the games over this stretch are at home, which should give the Jazz a better chance at winning games. Utah is currently 8-8 against teams over .500, but they are 17-3 at home which is one of the best records in the league.

Looking at the games the Jazz will play in the next two and a half weeks, best case scenario is probably 7-3. It’s going to be really difficult to come out any better than that looking at the schedule. 7-3 would put them at 38-16 heading into the All-Star break, which would be amazing. A split 5-5 over this stretch would put them at 36-18, which probably won’t be good enough to keep them in contention for the 2 seed, at least for now.

The next 10 games are going to really test the Utah Jazz. It’ll be fun to see the Jazz go toe-to-toe with some of the biggest stars in the league over the next little bit, including James Harden, the return of Russell Westbrook to Vivint Arena (prob will be dramatic), Rudy vs. Jokic, and getting a close-up look at the incredible 20-year old Luka Doncic. It’s going to be fun. Things might get crazy, might have some close heart-breakers, might have some awesome game-winners.

*extreme Boler voice* : BUCKLE UP, BABY!!!