Game 77: Utah Jazz (45-31) vs Los Angeles Lakers (31-44)

Post #1 » by **Inigo Montoya** » Thu Mar 31, 2022 11:57 am

The Lakers are a hot mess, no two ways about it. It's a good opportunity for the Jazz to get back to winning basketball games, no excuses.

Crunch 99 · Post #2 » by **Crunch 99** » Thu Mar 31, 2022 1:10 pm

Forrest and Whiteside are OUT, while Bogey and House are listed grey tossup GTD again. Lebron is OUT for Lakers and AD is listed as unlikely to play GTD.

With Forrest out, I really hope House is ready to rejoin the active roster to bring some of the defensive energy that Forrest brings.

TNJazz · Post #3 » by **TNJazz** » Thu Mar 31, 2022 2:13 pm

These "hot mess" teams are exactly what one would think the Jazz need to recalibrate their course into the playoffs. Unfortunately, this season has had so many of those opportunities that haven't worked out, this could end up in another horrible loss. They have WAY TOO MANY on paper winnable games that become mind blowing losses including the last time the played the Lakers and lost. :banghead:

The primary goals at the beginning of this season were:
1. stay healthy, (4 or more high usage players have been out almost every game since the AS break) = fail
2. be playing at the highest level all season at then end ( 5 straight losses ties worst stretch of the season) = fail.

I'm beginning to think the Jazz are doing what they can to line up with a team they think they have a better chance of beating come round 1 and place themselves in the bracket where they can't face the Suns (fear of sunburn

) until WCF.

Crunch 99 · Post #4 » by **Crunch 99** » Thu Mar 31, 2022 2:36 pm

TNJazz wrote:These "hot mess" teams are exactly what one would think the Jazz need to recalibrate their course into the playoffs. Unfortunately, this season has had so many of those opportunities that haven't worked out, this could end up in another horrible loss. They have WAY TOO MANY on paper winnable games that become mind blowing losses including the last time the played the Lakers and lost.

The primary goals at the beginning of this season were:
1. stay healthy, (4 or more high usage players have been out almost every game since the AS break) = fail
2. be playing at the highest level all season at then end ( 5 straight losses ties worst stretch of the season) = fail.

I'm beginning to think the Jazz are doing what they can to line up with a team they think they have a better chance of beating come round 1 and place themselves in the bracket where they can't face the Suns (fear of sunburn ) until WCF.

Agree with all of your post except for your last sentence. I don't think the Jazz have been messing around trying to line up with certain teams. I think they are just losing. They are falling so hard and fast that they actually have some danger of falling all the way to the play-in and getting punked by PG13 and the Clips in a 7-8 game, which would be supremely demoralizing and potentially lead to being knocked out of the playoffs before the playoffs even begin. But I think they will hold off Minnesota as some players come back on the active roster.

ducler · Post #5 » by **ducler** » Thu Mar 31, 2022 9:40 pm

Read on Twitter

Crunch 99 · Post #6 » by **Crunch 99** » Thu Mar 31, 2022 10:43 pm

Bogey and House are are off the GTD and on the active roster at the Rotowire lineup page now. Hope they can make positive impacts. Forrest and Whiteside are still OUT. Anthony Davis has gone from unlikely GTD to OUT. Lebron still OUT.
https://www.rotowire.com/basketball/nba-lineups.php

red4hf · Post #7 » by **red4hf** » Fri Apr 1, 2022 10:13 am

Alright..... At least we can still beat the Lakers without their two best players......

Crunch 99 · Post #8 » by **Crunch 99** » Fri Apr 1, 2022 1:07 pm

Read on Twitter

As I've mentioned several times before, one thing that has been a disappointment to me this season is the Jazz not getting enough shot attempts for Gobert and Whiteside, especially for Whiteside, who is quite talented on the offensive end. Glad they were making an effort to get Gobert the ball last night.

Speaking of Whiteside, he had an MRI yesterday that revealed a minor bone spur fracture that will heal on its own and won't require any medical procedures. He is cleared to play "as pain allows him to".

TNJazz · Post #9 » by **TNJazz** » Fri Apr 1, 2022 7:36 pm

Crunch 99 wrote:Agree with all of your post except for your last sentence. I don't think the Jazz have been messing around trying to line up with certain teams. I think they are just losing. They are falling so hard and fast that they actually have some danger of falling all the way to the play-in and getting punked by PG13 and the Clips in a 7-8 game, which would be supremely demoralizing and potentially lead to being knocked out of the playoffs before the playoffs even begin. But I think they will hold off Minnesota as some players come back on the active roster.

Agreed, they are simply losing...I was being a bit dramatic with my frustration...
Although, being in the 3 or 6 position, I feel, is a better path forward, so maybe a bit of optimism???

Finally beat the Lakers, let's hope that is the spark that they need to get the flame roaring. I thought both House and Hernangomez were terrific! It was also nice to see Gobert getting some dedicated touches.

The only weird stat is the recent poor FT shooting. 5 airballs from the line in the last 2 games...

Not a concern, just an observation that hopefully won't become a concern.

Post #10 » by **Inigo Montoya** » Fri Apr 1, 2022 8:38 pm

Other than the Suns, who I think are the best team in the west (as their record shows), I think the rest of the west is wide open. Seeding shouldn't matter that much, as I think there isn't much difference between the rest of the teams who'll be in the playoffs in the west, and that includes the Jazz. Like last season, we have a decent shot to make it to the WCF if we find our game and manage to elude the Suns until then.