Game Thread - Jazz @ Pistons 5 PM MTN

[Jingled]

People are just looking for an excuse for how bad we've played this year. There are no excuses. We just haven't been as good as we expected we would be. That simple.

The Jazz have had by far the toughest schedule in the league so far, that's not an excuse it's a fact. They have the easiest schedule in the western conference the second half of the season so they're going to win a ton of games. We're also in a lot better shape than we were last year. We sit at 20-20 right now and last year we bottomed out at 19-28 before our run started. So even if we don't go on as big of a run as last year, we don't have to because we aren't going to be 9 games under .500.

 

[NAOS]

The Jazz have had by far the toughest schedule in the league so far, that's not an excuse it's a fact. They have the easiest schedule in the western conference the second half of the season so they're going to win a ton of games. We're also in a lot better shape than we were last year. We sit at 20-20 right now and last year we bottomed out at 19-28 before our run started. So even if we don't go on as big of a run as last year, we don't have to because we aren't going to be 9 games under .500.

True.... but... the Jazz aren't as good as the great majority of JFC expected them to be.

 

[RRJazz]

@SCS
Of course it was all those things you say AND the schedule. Let me remind you how insane December was:
Fri, Dec 1 @LA (35-47) W126-107 11-11
Sat, Dec 2 vsNew Orleans (48-34) W114-108 12-11
Tue, Dec 5 vsWashington (43-39) W116-69 13-11
Wed, Dec 6@Oklahoma City (48-34) L100-94 13-12
Fri, Dec 8 vsHouston (65-17) L112-101 13-13
Sun, Dec 10 @Milwaukee (44-38) L117-100 13-14
Thu, Dec 14 @Chicago (27-55) L103-100 13-15
Sat, Dec 16 @Boston (55-27) W107-95 14-15
Sun, Dec 17 @Cleveland (50-32) L109-100 14-16
Tue, Dec 19 @Houston (65-17) L120-99 14-17
Thu, Dec 21 @Oklahoma City (48-34) L107-79 14-18
Fri, Dec 22 vsSan Antonio (47-35) W100-89 15-18
Sun, Dec 24 vsOklahoma City (48-34) L103-89 15-19
Wed, Dec 27 @Denver (46-36) L107-83 15-20
Thu, Dec 28 @Golden State (58-24) L126-101 15-21
Sun, Dec 31 vsCleveland (50-32) W104-101 16-21

 

[Sandman822]

I can't see why both lines of thought can't be correct. The Jazz' record is 100% not indicitive of how good they really are due to the brutal schedule to start the season and they're definitely going to improve on that and get pack into the playoff picture, but at the same time they've lost too many games against some of the better teams in the league to suggest that they're truly going to be contending this year unless there's some dramatic improvement internally post all star break, or a big move is made at the deadline that improves the team.

 

[LoPo]

I can't see why both lines of thought can't be correct. The Jazz' record is 100% not indicitive of how good they really are due to the brutal schedule to start the season and they're definitely going to improve on that and get pack into the playoff picture, but at the same time they've lost too many games against some of the better teams in the league to suggest that they're truly going to be contending this year unless there's some dramatic improvement internally post all star break, or a big move is made at the deadline that improves the team.

Exactly. The schedule has been tough but we were supposed to be a top 5 type team. The schedule has affected the record but so has our often terrible play.

 

[Deleted member 95]

But you also have to factor in how that tough schedule affected their play. A lot of b2bs and long road trips.

 

[Miggs]

But you also have to factor in how that tough schedule affected their play. A lot of b2bs and long road trips.

A lot of b2b’s? How many have we had so far? 4?

 

[Deleted member 95]

A lot of b2b’s? How many have we had so far? 4?

Enough and on road trips also against the better teams.

 

[fishonjazz]

I can't see why both lines of thought can't be correct. The Jazz' record is 100% not indicitive of how good they really are due to the brutal schedule to start the season and they're definitely going to improve on that and get pack into the playoff picture, but at the same time they've lost too many games against some of the better teams in the league to suggest that they're truly going to be contending this year unless there's some dramatic improvement internally post all star break, or a big move is made at the deadline that improves the team.

Ya just like last year. They were never true contenders last year and we all knew that. No one is arguing that the jazz are going to win the championship this year. Just saying that they will go on another huge run and get into the playoffs again. Last year the schedule was brutal for the first part of the year and the jazz struggled winning during that brutal stretch (they were even worse last year due to Rudy going down) and then went on a big run.
I don't see why it won't happen again now that we have the easiest schedule in the league and teams will start to tank harder soon once they know they are out of the playoffs.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using JazzFanz mobile app

 

[Deleted member 95]

A lot of b2b’s? How many have we had so far? 4?

Both our games against okc were b2b. One on the road and the other coming home from a road trip. I think Locke said there hasn't been more than like 4 times this season the jazz haven't been on plane between games.

 

[idiot]

Last year at this time, we looked to be in far worse shape than this year (a -0.8 point differential compared to our +2.2 differential this year [despite Dallas, Indy, Philly debacles]). We may have had an even tougher schedule this year to this point than last year (though I can't find a good quantitative measure of last year's schedule after 40 games -- in any case, it was also front loaded, with an especially brutal December as well).

Yes, injury situation differs from last year and yes, it's unlikely that we'll go on the type of run we went on last year. It's hard to catch lightening in a bottle twice.

But the biggest reason last year was fun and this year seems brutal is expectations. Jazz have fairly close to the same team. Last year's expectations turned out to be far too low. This year's were probably a bit too high. My advice if you're not enjoying things this year: re-calibrate expectations.

 

[NAOS]

But you also have to factor in how that tough schedule affected their play. A lot of b2bs and long road trips.

That, and those weird “home games” where they’re in SLC for less than 36 hours between road trips. Those might as well be “road games” (they may even be harder than road games, actually).