Jazz Schedule Outlook: Longest Road Trip of the Season Awaits
The Utah Jazz have made some hay over the last 20 games. Head coach Will Hardy has led Utah to a 15-5 record and is right back in the playoff conversation. What looked like a season in which tanking the year made the most sense now appears to be a dogfight to obtain a top-ten seed.
If Utah continues its climb up the standings, it will need to do better when playing away from Salt Lake City. The Jazz have a 7-15 record on the road, but many of those losses were before Hardy reshuffled the starting lineup.
Utah is 6-4 in its last ten road games, with Collin Sexton in the starting lineup. This bodes well for a team that starts a six-game road trip on Saturday night against a dangerous Houston Rockets team. This will be Utah's longest road trip of the season.
The oddsmakers aren't entirely sold on the Jazz turnaround and have them pegged as a two-point underdog. After the Rockets contest, the Jazz will also be underdogs against the New Orleans Pelicans and start a stretch by playing five road games in eight days. Despite the road woes this season, the Jazz should still be favored in three of those games.
Utah must take advantage of some very winnable games when they consecutively play the Washington Wizards, Charlotte Hornets, and Brooklyn Nets. Those three teams have a combined 18-37 home record, and posting victories in all three games is within the realm of possibility, given the way Utah is playing as of late.
The Jazz will finish their road trip with a challenging game against the New York Knicks, who have been elite when playing at Madison Square Garden. The Knicks are 13-5 at home this season, including winning the last five out of six contests.
If the oddsmakers are correct, the Jazz should win three of those six games, but a win over the Rockets could make a 4-2 record over that stretch very feasible. If the Jazz are considered genuine playoff contenders, then playing better on the road starts tonight in Houston. The tip-off is at 6:00 p.m. MST.
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