Jazz Schedule Outlook: Difficult First Week Looming

The Utah Jazz first five game stretch to begin the season provides some major challenges.

The Utah Jazz will be tested early and often in the first week of the regular season, starting on October 25 against the upstart Sacramento Kings. The Kings are coming off a season in which they won 48 games while claiming the third seed in the Western Conference. Vegas currently has Sacramento as a 1.5-point favorite over the underdog Jazz. 

After the Kings game, Utah will play four games in seven days against projected Western Conference playoff teams.

In Utah’s second game, the Los Angeles Clippers come to town on October 27. It’s a winnable game, but the Clippers should be the favorite, considering Kawhi Leonard and Paul George are entering the season healthy.

After the Clippers, it’s off to face the Phoenix Suns in Utah’s first back-to-back games of the year. The Suns should be close to a double-digit favorite playing at home and having a one-more-day rest advantage. Utah beating Phoenix will be their most challenging task of the week.

It doesn’t get much more manageable for Utah when they stay on the road and face the defending champ Denver Nuggets. This will be the second game in a row Utah will be a heavy underdog. However, Utah will have the rest advantage as the Nuggets will have played the night before on the road against the Memphis Grizzlies.

Finally, the Jazz wrap up their first five-game stint of the year when they fly back to Salt Lake City to host the Grizzlies on November 1. Early projections have Memphis making the playoffs, and Jazz fans can anticipate another contest being the underdog. 

The schedulers did Utah no favors to begin the season. If the Jazz can find a way to come out on top in two of their first five contests, that would be a solid start to the season. 

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