by Stef Siepel
The word “lottery” is often defined as an activity or event regarded
as having an outcome depending on fate. And if you look at it that
way the Jazz are already in the lottery. Not the one that will
decide when you will get to draft, but the Jazz are in the lottery
that will decide who will get that last play-off seed.
The Jazz are battling for the eight and final play-off spot with two
other teams, the Denver Nuggets and Portland Trailblazers. The
Blazers are only a half game behind the Jazz while the Nuggets are
only trailing by one. At least, that’s the situation at the time of
writing, which is Sunday just before the Jazz-Lakers game. Because
after that game, the standings could already look a lot different.
And that can be said after every game the three teams play from now
on. “It's like a playoff atmosphere right now at the end of the
season,” said Arroyo. Every game is important, but every game,
whether it’s a win or a loss, will not be decisive yet. Simply
because... well... it’s a lottery now.
Neither Portland nor Utah nor Denver has a relatively easy or hard
schedule from now on. Utah still has some tough games left against
various title contenders, like the Spurs, Mavericks, and Lakers.
Denver will have to play Ming’s Rockets twice while also meeting
with the Kings and Blazers. Those Blazers still have two meetings
with the Spurs and two with the Lakers. None of the teams have a
long home or road stretch left.
Since the schedule doesn’t favor anyone, the team that plays the
best will get to the play-offs. But all of the teams have been
playing very inconsistent this season. The talented Blazers can win
against any opponent in the NBA, but they can lose to any opponent
in the NBA as well. They are now surging and winning against almost
every team, but they still are out of the play-offs. That says
something about how they played before this streak. If they continue
their winning ways then they’ll make the play-offs, but they have
been far too inconsistent in the past months to simply hand them the
tickets already.
The Nuggets are the exact opposite of the Blazers at the moment, as
they have been losing a lot of games lately. But they seem to be
able to switch from the losing lane to the winning lane with ease as
well, just like the Blazers. They will have to do that quickly
though, as the end is nearing and the Nuggets can’t afford to lose a
lot more games.
And then you have the Jazz, who have been inconsistent this season
as well, but in an entirely different way than Portland and Denver.
The Jazz can play very bad one game, but win the next one with good
play. The Jazz have been around the eight play-off seed almost the
entire season, not dropping more than four games below or rising
more than four games above the fifty percent barrier.
If you think that this stat bodes well for the Jazz, then you have
to look at the record again. The Jazz are currently three games
above the fifty percent, which would mean that the Jazz will lose a
couple of games now because otherwise they would be more than four
games above the aforementioned barrier, which hasn’t happened all
season yet. But if there is a time to break with that statistic,
then this time would be as good as any.
Whether this happens though, especially with this schedule that, for
all three teams, is brutal, remains to be seen. All of these teams
have been very inconsistent this year, and who will get to the
play-offs will highly depend on the form those three teams just
happen to have in the final stretch of the season. If you look at it
from the inconsistency standpoint, then Portland’s candle should be
fading, the Jazz one should be flickering, while Denver’s should be
re-lit one of these games.
The NBA doesn’t work this way though, and all three teams seem to
have an equal chance at getting into the play-offs. From now on, all
games are extremely important, and with the inconsistency of all
these teams it seems to be impossible to forecast an outcome that
would come close to the actual outcome. These three teams can lose
and win against every team, and the team who has the most luck with
their form in this final stretch will go to the play-offs. So lets
hope that lady luck smiles on the Jazz, and that this will be the
only lottery they’ll be in this season.
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