Welcome to the Basketball Hangover. I write about what’s happening in the NBA daily, even when COVID has ravaged the league.
The Utah Jazz have won 16 of their 17 games.
(PHOTO CREDIT: Rick Egan/The Salt Lake Tribune.)
The Utah Jazz are 20-5. Winners of 16 of the last 17 games. They won 11 straight, lost to Denver, then promptly won 5 more in a row. They’ve looked nearly unstoppable.
So of course, we question if they can do this in the playoffs. It’s a fair question.
Utah has been a regular playoff team. They’ve made it the last four seasons and this was even before Donovan Mitchell got there. In fact, Mitchell becoming a potent scorer immediately was a surprise to many that people seemed to forgot that they had just lost Gordon Hayward the offseason before. And they also made the West Semifinals in Mitchell’s rookie year.
However, the next two years weren’t too kind. They lost to Houston in the first round and then lost a heartbreaking 7-gamer with the Nuggets last summer. We’d probably sing a different tune with the Jazz had they not blown that 3-1 lead.
Still, for them to get off to this kind of start has to get people talking a bit. It’s easy for pundits to ignore them. There is no way they’ll get past the L.A. teams, they said. And they haven’t been to the West Finals in forever (forever was 14 years ago).
And that is a very fair statement. But at some point, they have to start somewhere, right? They’ll have to break through. They can only control what they can. They are in the Top 5 on both ends of the court. Is Mitchell a superstar? Maybe a tier below but he sure can score (we saw him score 50 or more twice against Denver last summer). And they have a game-changing central defender in Rudy Gobert. Plus their bench that includes Jordan Clarkson, Joe Ingles, and Derrick Favors is deeper than ever. I mean, this might be a championship team in front of us.
Might. People say that Mitchell has to get to that level (which Shaq said he couldn’t do). We all know they have to stay healthy. They can’t buckle under pressure (notwithstanding the controversial Game 6 against the Lakers, the Kings wilted in Game 7). Are they ready for this?
Then again, maybe everyone else isn’t ready for Utah.
Bullet Passes
How about the slugfest between the Knicks and the Heat? Well, they still scored nearly 100. If it was the 90s, they probably wouldn’t even score 85.
Of course, the Kings lose right when I was talking great about them. Still, that’s a tough team to go against (Philadelphia). I can’t stop raving about Joel Embiid but, really, we have to keep an eye on De’Aaron Fox, who scored 34 on that loss.
The Nets continue to play porous defense as they lost to Detroit. I am half-expecting the Nets to go 2001 Lakers on us, though. They didn’t exactly play inspired defense that season (21st in defensive rating) but ran over everyone in that postseason (except for one game against Allen Iverson).
The Pelicans blew out the Rockets. Look at Josh Hart get 20 points and 17 boards, though! Hart has always played bigger than his size.
Carmelo Anthony continues to move up the scoring ladder. Next on the list is #11 Hakeem Olajuwon!
NBA Scoreboard
Feb. 9, 2021
Watch This Play
We know Stephen Curry for his threes but he has some wizardry around the rim.
HOW ⁉️@StephenCurry30 || #NBAAllStar pic.twitter.com/Ff9PCt66TN
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) February 10, 2021
So magical.
Everyone, please take care of yourselves during this pandemic. And that goes for everyone involved with the NBA as well.
You can find Rey-Rey on Twitter at @TheNoLookPass.
You can also check out Rey-Rey’s podcast, Rey-Rey Is Fundamental, for more basketball content and, really, whatever else.