Playoff Matchup Poll

Luigi · Post #1 » by **Luigi** » Mon Mar 20, 2017 4:02 am

Clippers have been dominant on our home turf. But we got their goat most recently.

Thunder have the Westbrook factor. And Kanter seems to play well against us.

Grizzlies have the grindhouse defense and bigs to matchup with us.

Honestly, I really hope we get home court advantage, because I think we're gonna need it against any of these teams.

Jazz Dog · Post #2 » by **Jazz Dog** » Mon Mar 20, 2017 3:30 pm

I choose OKC, first off the Kanter angle, second I don't think Westbrook can do it against the Jazz for a seven game series.

Post #3 » by **Inigo Montoya** » Mon Mar 20, 2017 4:17 pm

Don't know who'll win an OKC-Jazz series, but one thing I'm pretty confident in is that Westbrook will be a monster in that series.

AingesBurner · Post #4 » by **AingesBurner** » Mon Mar 20, 2017 4:30 pm

OKC, Hill is too old/slow to match up to Conley or Westbrook.

TO11 · Post #5 » by **TO11** » Tue Mar 21, 2017 1:59 am

GobertReport wrote:OKC, Hill is too old/slow to match up to Conley or Westbrook.

Who in the world can matchup with Westbrook?

babyjax13 · Post #6 » by **babyjax13** » Tue Mar 21, 2017 4:12 am

I'd rather match up with Houston.

Luigi · Post #7 » by **Luigi** » Tue Mar 21, 2017 12:37 pm

babyjax13 wrote:I'd rather match up with Houston.

Option added. Though I'd rather have HCA than try to steal games against the Rockets by dropping to the 6 seed. (not that it wasn't sweet sweet basketball doing that in the Williams Boozer v TMac and Yao days...high pick and roll in the 4th quarter, I'm getting nostalgic!)

Crunch 99 · Post #8 » by **Crunch 99** » Tue Mar 21, 2017 1:36 pm

The Jazz most favorable matchup is against the Rockets, but to get to the Rockets the Jazz have to have a weak finish to the season, dropping from the fourth seed to the sixth seed. I would rather see the Jazz finish the season and go in to the playoffs on a strong note, fending off challengers to hang on to the fourth seed and homecourt advantage. So I am going to vote Clippers AND Jazz fourth seed. But give me the Rockets all day long if the Jazz can't hang on to the fourth seed.

Luigi · Post #9 » by **Luigi** » Tue Mar 21, 2017 2:39 pm

Crunch 99 wrote:The Jazz most favorable matchup is against the Rockets, but to get to the Rockets the Jazz have to have a weak finish to the season, dropping from the fourth seed to the sixth seed. I would rather see the Jazz finish the season and go in to the playoffs on a strong note, fending off challengers to hang on to the fourth seed and homecourt advantage. So I am going to vote Clippers AND Jazz fourth seed. But give me the Rockets all day long if the Jazz can't hang on to the fourth seed.

Yeah, I should have included a Clippers as 4, and Clippers as 5 option. Too late. I was overconfident we were safe at the 4...

Mutangclan · Post #10 » by **Mutangclan** » Tue Mar 21, 2017 4:33 pm

I would prefer Memphis most, but closely followed by the Rockets. I think we beat Houston in 6. A non-defensive team just can't win in the playoffs.

Memphis I like because they dont go small ball, and our bigs can play a ton. I also love the matchup of Hill on Conley. Conley is not known as a lighting quick PG, but a very good one. He's also not a big guard. I think Hill has a SERIES against him and Conley looks weaker.

I disagree with my boy Dog, I think Westbrook CAN carry his team for a series and he's shown that our team especially can't handle him. I fear OKC the most. Then Clippers. Savvy teams do well in playoffs, young teams dont.

Winglish · Post #11 » by **Winglish** » Tue Mar 21, 2017 10:30 pm

I voted Houston. I think the Jazz can beat Houston pretty handily if the refs stay out of the way. The Jazz are the better team in that matchup.

MTJazzv3 · Post #12 » by **MTJazzv3** » Wed Mar 22, 2017 3:23 am

Crunch 99 wrote:The Jazz most favorable matchup is against the Rockets, but to get to the Rockets the Jazz have to have a weak finish to the season, dropping from the fourth seed to the sixth seed. I would rather see the Jazz finish the season and go in to the playoffs on a strong note, fending off challengers to hang on to the fourth seed and homecourt advantage. So I am going to vote Clippers AND Jazz fourth seed. But give me the Rockets all day long if the Jazz can't hang on to the fourth seed.

I want Rox - and it will also help with my disappointment seeing the Jazz drop in the seeding, (silver lining playbook). I think the Jazz could go 7 with Clips but I actually think the Clips are a more well-rounded playoff team than Rox. As is Jazz are heading to playoffs without a healthy Favors, Hill, and Hood who we would need more for to beat Clips than the Rox. Jazz haven't played their best basketball of the season yet and with this injury rotisserie I'm not sure we will see it this year.

KqWIN · Post #13 » by **KqWIN** » Wed Mar 22, 2017 4:38 pm

Every team is a bad matchup. They all have more experience, play harder, and have better coaching. OKC stands out as the best matchup on paper for me. They've hit a lot of jump shots against us this year, but that is not their strength. OKC relies on attacking the paint, offensive rebounding, and pushing the pace. We can protect the paint and slow down the game very well, and if we have Favors we can neutralize the glass too.

Houston is a good regular season matchup, but I'm not sure the same will hold for the playoffs. One or two easy adjustments and things get so much easier for them. I have confidence that MDA will make the right adjustments, and I have no confidence in Quin's ability to adjust. They've also gotten unlucky in the miss/make game against us. It would be unfair to point that out against OKC, but not for HOU as well.

There are good and bad things about the LAC matchup too. I think Joe/Hayward are ideal defenders for Blake, and Rudy is the best in the NBA at defending the lob. Hood also does a decent job on Redick. The issue is that Chris Paul is the master of the mid range, and that is exactly what our defense gives you. No one is better than Chris Paul with some space coming off the pick and roll. We do not change our defense, which goes back to my confidence in Quin to make adjustments. I have a hard time believing that we can beat the Clippers 4 times when we give their best player everything he wants whenever he wants it.

Joao Saraiva · Post #14 » by **Joao Saraiva** » Thu Mar 23, 2017 4:47 am

I think we're a better team than Houston. I believe we can upset LAC or Houston.

Luigi · Post #15 » by **Luigi** » Thu Mar 23, 2017 4:56 am

I'm very surprised everyone thinks Houston is so vulnerable. There's a reason they are 3rd in the west. And all of their irresponsible weaknesses seem like the kind of thing they can overcome in the playoffs. They're not gonna have trouble getting motivated, for example.

mudsak · Post #16 » by **mudsak** » Wed Mar 29, 2017 12:57 am

Crunch 99 wrote:The Jazz most favorable matchup is against the Rockets, but to get to the Rockets the Jazz have to have a weak finish to the season, dropping from the fourth seed to the sixth seed. I would rather see the Jazz finish the season and go in to the playoffs on a strong note, fending off challengers to hang on to the fourth seed and homecourt advantage. So I am going to vote Clippers AND Jazz fourth seed. But give me the Rockets all day long if the Jazz can't hang on to the fourth seed.

I voted Houston, but your point is pretty valid... Finishing strong going into the playoffs for confidence, and momentum alone are likely our best route.

If I'm just considering the teams available... I have to choose Houston. I think Houston has more chances of beating GSW than the Jazz. We have dominated Houston a couple times this year, and really kept Harden grounded. I think Houston is tailor built to matchup with the Warriors. The Jazz's ability to defend the 3, and slow the pace down taking away so many possessions... I think we grind them down over the series. Our defense breaks them.

I think my second choice is OKC... I think our season record vs OKC really should be 3-1. We should have won the last two matchups vs them earlier this year... really really close games...buzzer beaters. I think the Jazz SHOULD beat OKC in a series, but they have to play like they want it. Westbrook isn't going to stop for anything, so they'd have to play hard every quarter to win.

Memphis... I think the Grizzlies are similar to the Jazz... no one wants to play them. I don't want the Jazz to play them either. They're brutal. They play our own game too well. San Antonio will have their work cut out for them.

Clippers... This is the last team I want the Jazz to play...ESPECIALLY if we loose home court. They've pretty much kicked our a$$es this year, with the acceptation of that one game. We had to play at such a ridiculous level to beat them in that game...I'm not certain the Jazz can sustain that level of play through a 7 game series. For some reason the Clip's bench makes big plays against ours... Speights, Crawford, and even Rivers all make big plays against us every time we meet. Their bench dominated us in that last game...Crawford basically beat us. From a general confidence standpoint...I don't want to matchup vs the Clips because I'm not sure the Jazz believe they can beat the Clips.

mudsak · Post #17 » by **mudsak** » Wed Mar 29, 2017 1:08 am

KqWIN wrote:Every team is a bad matchup. They all have more experience, play harder, and have better coaching. OKC stands out as the best matchup on paper for me. They've hit a lot of jump shots against us this year, but that is not their strength. OKC relies on attacking the paint, offensive rebounding, and pushing the pace. We can protect the paint and slow down the game very well, and if we have Favors we can neutralize the glass too.

Houston is a good regular season matchup, but I'm not sure the same will hold for the playoffs. One or two easy adjustments and things get so much easier for them. I have confidence that MDA will make the right adjustments, and I have no confidence in Quin's ability to adjust. They've also gotten unlucky in the miss/make game against us. It would be unfair to point that out against OKC, but not for HOU as well.

There are good and bad things about the LAC matchup too. I think Joe/Hayward are ideal defenders for Blake, and Rudy is the best in the NBA at defending the lob. Hood also does a decent job on Redick. The issue is that Chris Paul is the master of the mid range, and that is exactly what our defense gives you. No one is better than Chris Paul with some space coming off the pick and roll. We do not change our defense, which goes back to my confidence in Quin to make adjustments. I have a hard time believing that we can beat the Clippers 4 times when we give their best player everything he wants whenever he wants it.

I think Houston would HATE to matchup against the Jazz in the playoffs. "A couple of easy adjustments"??? I'm not so sure. MDA is a great coach, and Houston has built an amazing team to fit his style of coaching. However, I think our defense gives Houston serious problems, and I think we are totally capable to grinding out as winners of that series. For some of the same reasons you mention about our problem with the Clips... The Clips have CP3...such a great mid-range shooter...he's practically automatic at mid range. We defend the paint, and we're phenomenal at defending the 3. Guess what... the entire Houston offensive scheme is built around 3 pointers. No other team in the NBA takes less mid-range shots than Houston. That's not just a minor adjustment... that's our defense throwing a major monkey wrench into their offensive scheme. Houston does not want to play the Jazz in the playoffs. I think we're the last team they beat in the playoffs.

I agree with you about the Clippers though... I'm not confident we walk away from that matchup as winners. OKC... I think we should win, but the Jazz will have to play at full capacity to grind it out.

KqWIN · Post #18 » by **KqWIN** » Wed Mar 29, 2017 2:06 am

mudsak wrote:I think Houston would HATE to matchup against the Jazz in the playoffs. "A couple of easy adjustments"??? I'm not so sure. MDA is a great coach, and Houston has built an amazing team to fit his style of coaching. However, I think our defense gives Houston serious problems, and I think we are totally capable to grinding out as winners of that series. For some of the same reasons you mention about our problem with the Clips... The Clips have CP3...such a great mid-range shooter...he's practically automatic at mid range. We defend the paint, and we're phenomenal at defending the 3. Guess what... the entire Houston offensive scheme is built around 3 pointers. No other team in the NBA takes less mid-range shots than Houston. That's not just a minor adjustment... that's our defense throwing a major monkey wrench into their offensive scheme. Houston does not want to play the Jazz in the playoffs. I think we're the last team they beat in the playoffs.

I agree with you about the Clippers though... I'm not confident we walk away from that matchup as winners. OKC... I think we should win, but the Jazz will have to play at full capacity to grind it out.

I don't think it's a huge adjustment to tell Harden to take the free, wide open mid range jumper. He can make that shot. He's also very good at making the wide open three coming off the pick, it just so happens that he's missed them against us. Wide open shooting ability comes down to luck and not opponent. I wonder how we would think about the series if the Rockets had hot shooting and the Jazz did not.

There's also other things that they can change with a more specific gameplan. The Jazz base defense is very simple and they have not deviated from it all season long. The first thing is how high HOU sets the pick, way beyond the three point line. In theory it gives Harden more space, but it also allows Rudy to defend the three point line and Capela at the same time. In a normal PnR, Rudy has to stay further into the paint because the screen setter is closer to the basket. If Rudy stays high, it's a free alley oop because we do not send help. It is always guarded 2v2. Not many teams in the league defend it that way, but the Jazz do because Rudy is the best defender in the league for that situation. Setting the pick in a more standard position puts way more pressure on our defense and forces Rudy in between a rock and a hard place.

In a similar vein, Harden is always walking the ball towards the basket. He's looking for a pass, and not necessarily to score. Again, the Jazz play 2v2 so no one is leaving their man on the perimeter. He hasn't found that pass in the regular season because we stay home. The adjustment is to come off the pick running and attack the hoop right away. This is why we struggle with quick guards so much. Harden could wise up and take full advantage of the running start instead of walking towards the hoop. We saw this at the end of the last matchup where he kept scoring over and over at the end.

Of course, the most effective adjustment would be to shoot like they normally do. I have a feeling that the series would turn into a an offensive contest. The Rockets are great at winning those.

Daddy 801 · Post #19 » by **Daddy 801** » Wed Mar 29, 2017 3:08 am

I think we match up the worst with OKC. No one is stopping Russ. And if he gets his the team wins. Andre bugs Hayward. And their bigs play with physicality.

mudsak · Post #20 » by **mudsak** » Wed Mar 29, 2017 5:28 pm

KqWIN wrote:I don't think it's a huge adjustment to tell Harden to take the free, wide open mid range jumper. He can make that shot. He's also very good at making the wide open three coming off the pick, it just so happens that he's missed them against us. Wide open shooting ability comes down to luck and not opponent. I wonder how we would think about the series if the Rockets had hot shooting and the Jazz did not.

There's also other things that they can change with a more specific gameplan. The Jazz base defense is very simple and they have not deviated from it all season long. The first thing is how high HOU sets the pick, way beyond the three point line. In theory it gives Harden more space, but it also allows Rudy to defend the three point line and Capela at the same time. In a normal PnR, Rudy has to stay further into the paint because the screen setter is closer to the basket. If Rudy stays high, it's a free alley oop because we do not send help. It is always guarded 2v2. Not many teams in the league defend it that way, but the Jazz do because Rudy is the best defender in the league for that situation. Setting the pick in a more standard position puts way more pressure on our defense and forces Rudy in between a rock and a hard place.

In a similar vein, Harden is always walking the ball towards the basket. He's looking for a pass, and not necessarily to score. Again, the Jazz play 2v2 so no one is leaving their man on the perimeter. He hasn't found that pass in the regular season because we stay home. The adjustment is to come off the pick running and attack the hoop right away. This is why we struggle with quick guards so much. Harden could wise up and take full advantage of the running start instead of walking towards the hoop. We saw this at the end of the last matchup where he kept scoring over and over at the end.

Of course, the most effective adjustment would be to shoot like they normally do. I have a feeling that the series would turn into a an offensive contest. The Rockets are great at winning those.

You may be right...maybe Houston just runs right over the top of the Jazz and we have no answers for their offense. I just don't think that's the case, and I think we've proved we are a very difficult opponent for them to deal with. I think it is a huge adjustment to re-tool their offensive scheme toward mid-range jumpers. They've practiced specific sets, and specific routes all season long, and with great success. That's where that team excels. Their entire scheme is designed to shoot 3's at will. Full barrage in shoot-out fashion if necessary. And for the sake of argument... let's say they do make some adjustment to start trying to grind out a mid-range game against us... What makes you think our coaching staff can't adjust to that?... Harden can get to the rack at will in most cases, but Rudy is likely to keep him out of the paint more times than not.

You may be right... Houston is a really great team. I've really enjoyed watching them play this year. I just think our defense makes for a difficult series for them. They're probably the least physical team in the playoffs... If I was choosing... I'd take Houston. I think we can beat Houston before we beat the Clips, and maybe even Memphis. I think we can take Houston, and OKC.

Of course... it's not like our team looks great right now. Hill is bruised up, Hood is bruised up, Hayward is bruised up, and at this point I don't even know if Favors will make it back for the remainder of the year. Even though Favors has been a one-legged man this year, we're still really missing his play.

Who would you rather see in the first round?