Obviously not a huge deal to clinch the playoffs in the NBA, in which 16 teams do but realistically only 2 or 3 have a chance to actually win the whole damn thing. Regardless, the Jazz were sitting at 19-28 before ripping off this huge run to clinch the fourth spot (with a chance to grab the 3 seed) at 47-33. Gotta be one of the best mid-season turnarounds in sports in a long time.
Another crazy stat? They started 5-19 on the road — they are now 20-20 with the one loss being away at San Antonio in overtime. Nobody outside of a few Jazz fanatics (is that a thing? I’m really not sure what they do out in Utah) thought they had a chance at making the playoffs when they sputtered into a 19-28 record. Led by rookie sensation Donovan Mitchell, who would win the ROY any other year that Ben Simmons was not a rookie, the hype train for the Jazz is at full speed. All this without their star player from last year.
Who they’ll be playing is a different story as the West playoffs are literally all up for grabs coming down to the last game here:
Crazy stuff — too bad the WCF is already set as the Warriors – Rockets otherwise we could pretend that we have a fun race here. Still, hats off to Utah and I hope to see them make some sort of run.