SALT LAKE CITY -- The final stretch for a playoff push in the West is cluttered and full of chaos. The Grizzlies have built enough of a cushion that their tattered rotation and empty roster are unlikely to fall completely out at this point. The Mavericks are using smoke and mirrors with a thin rotation, the will of an aging legend, and a roster of relative afterthoughts to keep charging toward the postseason. The Rockets are defying the concept of having enough talent and health by digging a deeper and deeper ditch for them to escape.
And then you have the Utah Jazz.
The Jazz employ the sixth-youngest roster in the NBA. Key players have been injured throughout the season, in the one year in the West when just pretty good could net you a 5-seed as opposed to the gauntlet it usually appears to be. The Jazz also have little experience on the roster. Nobody is older than 28. Nobody has played more than six years in the NBA. Their roster is a sponge, looking to sop up any experience thrown their way.
That's been the development process from the coaching staff, spearheaded by Quin Snyder. Everything this season has been about learning and working toward becoming a playoff club, but the focus hasn't specifically been on making the playoffs. The Jazz have taken an almost alarmingly patient approach to this season.
They've developed Rodney Hood and Rudy Gobert -- two building blocks who had great finishes to last season and have been able to build on them this season. With Dante Exum out for the season and various key injuries to their frontcourt, Raul Neto and Trey Lyles have become key rotation players. Overlooked reserves like Jeff Withey, Joe Ingles, and Chris Johnson play key minutes. And everything is about forcing the correct habits Snyder has learned over his coaching career onto the roster game in and game out.
“Well, I guess it’s one of the things, this silver lining that we’ve been looking for having all of the injuries," Snyder said about a strong performance from Lyles against the Minnesota Timberwolves. "It’s not an unfamiliar situation for our group. We’ve been in games where we’ve missed guys. These guys are prepared. When you have a professional team and a team of players that are about the group, they’re ready. That’s what we’ve had with Trey, Jeff, Chris Johnson, Joe -- those guys who have been put in the game.
"You don’t ask for them to play well every game. No player does that. But I think they play the right way every game. They’re not afraid and they throw themselves into the group. Guys are confident in them and that makes a big difference.”
After being up and down all season, the Jazz have hit their stride as of late. They've won nine of their last 12 games. They nearly beat the Golden State Warriors. Their only bad game during this stretch of an admittedly favorable schedule was getting blown out by the Oklahoma City Thunder. Other than that, the Jazz are surging at the right time you want them to surge.
Over these last 12 games, the Jazz have an offensive rating of 106.4 and a defensive rating of 95.1. Both would be exceptional marks for just about any team in the NBA, and it's a reminder of what this team can do when they have their core of healthy starters eating up giant sections of the court with their defensive prowess. It's a similar run to what the Jazz did in the second half of last season when we saw a glimpse of what Dennis Lindsey was trying to build in Utah.
Granted, there is a lot of noise in such a small cross-section of games but during this stretch for the Jazz, the Warriors have the only net rating higher than Utah (by just 0.1 points per 100 possessions) and the Jazz have the best defense in the NBA by a margin of 2.8 points per 100 possessions. With just six games left, they played at Phoenix, San Antonio, the Clippers, at Denver, Dallas and at the Lakers.
It's a schedule that should serve as a red carpet for the Jazz but they've learned throughout this season that nothing seems to go as you plan. Guys get hurt. Random things happen on random nights. You can only control the decisions you make on the court and how those decisions align with the game plan created by the coaching staff. But this stretch, while it may have a playoff atmosphere for some, doesn't feel that way yet for the Jazz coach.
“Not quite yet, I don’t think," Snyder said when asked if this stretch felt like being in the playoffs. "We’ve got work to do. If the playoffs had started, we’d be in. One game or two games for me, we’re not there yet. I think you can see that all around the league. Teams are going to win games they’re not supposed to win. Teams are going to get upset. There’s no game on your schedule now that is easy, and hopefully if we keep playing well, you look up and you find yourself in a good position. We’re not there yet.”
They're only a game ahead of the Rockets for the 8-seed but they're only two games behind the Portland Trail Blazers for the 6-seed. They're in position to put this young, inexperienced roster into the postseason, and even though a potential sweep from the Warriors or Spurs would be likely awaiting them, the experience of closing out a playoff push would go a long way in their development.
