The Utah Jazz are facing the most complex moment of their season: only 4 victories in the last 10 games, of which the last defeat came against the Golden State Warriors after having nullified an advantage of 21 points. Utah has thus slipped to the sixth place in the West46-32 the record, also surpassed by teams that have only begun to engage in recent times, such as the Dallas Mavericks or the Denver Nuggets.
The recent difficulties of the Jazz have done nothing but feed the usual narratives around the team of coach Quin Snyder. First of all, the fact that Utah is a regular season team and not a playoff teamsecond, how well the duo Donovan Mitchell e Rudy Gobert.
Mitchell himself, a Jazz franchise player, released a statement following the match against Golden State in which he states that, according to him, Utah will be able to find a square in the short term.
Donovan Mitchell: “We made a lot of mistakes, but we will be able to make up for it. The team is motivated “
Speaking of the game against the Warriors, lost despite Utah being 21 points above at one point, Mitchell said: “We may think about defeat and apologize, feel disheartened, or we may use the accumulated anger as fuel. I believe we will follow the second of the two paths. It’s true, we made a mistake, we made serious mistakes in the fourth quarter about fifteen times this year. How do we respond, how do we adapt? We are reflecting on this, and we will start again from this question. We’ll find a solution”.
Words of encouragement those of Mitchell, under contract until the 2025/26 season in which he will receive about 37 million. In the last 7 games, the Utah Jazz have only won once, against the Los Angeles Lakers who are far from fit. For the rest, all defeats, including one of 28 points against the Boston Celtics and one of 14 against the Dallas Mavericks. There are four races to go to the end of the regular season, two a little more difficult against the Phoenix Suns and Memphis Grizzlies, two easily doable against the Oklahoma City Thunder and Portland Trail Blazers.
If the season ended at this time, Utah, sixth in the Western Conference, would face the third placed Warriors. This year, the Jazz have played 4 times against Steve Kerr’s team and lost 3 of those matches. The Utah Jazz, beyond the difficulties, will certainly be able to rely on Mitchell, who with his 26.1 points, 5.4 assists, 45.4% from the field and 35.9% from three, is the real driver of the Salt Lake City franchise.
For the rest, it remains an unknown how Gobert will hide his main shortcomings in the playoffs, including a particularly limited offensive game and a difficulty in defending outside the painted. The outcome of this title race will most likely be decisive in decreeing the future of the French center in Utah. Point out that some teams have already expressed interest in him (see the Mavericks).
