This Is How The Jazz Can Make Noise In The NBA Playoffs

• The Utah Jazz (41-23) currently rank fourth in the Western Conference. They own a 1.0-game lead on the Oklahoma City Thunder and trail the Denver Nuggets by 1.5 games.

• Utah has the second-best effective field goal rate in the NBA; however, they also own the worst steal rate in the league.

• The Jazz can shoot. They've posted terrific numbers from beyond the arc (38.3 percent, good for second-best in the NBA).

• Utah is +1400 to represent the West in the NBA Finals and are +3300 to win it all, per DraftKings Sportsbook.

Elite And Pedestrian Numbers

Most teams in the NBA have clear strengths and weaknesses. This mitigates a bit when talking about contending teams, but it’s easy to identify which are the strong points, as well as the weaker ones, when talking about most franchises in the NBA. With that being said, few teams in the league have a discrepancy as strong as the Utah Jazz when it comes to analyzing their performances on both sides of the court. The numbers back that up.

When the season was suspended on March 12th, the Jazz ranked second to the Milwaukee Bucks in effective field goal percentage with a 55.2 percent mark, but they also ranked last in steals per game with just 5.9 per contest. Those two stats may not be related with one another, but one thing is clear -- keeping up with this pace is not going to carry the Jazz into the promise land. Let’s take a deep look to find out why Utah must pay attention to both stats.

First Class Shooting

Hitting shots at a high clip is a recipe for success in the league, and that holds especially true in today’s NBA where offense gets a higher value than defense. In that sense, the Jazz should be acclaimed for their 55.2 effective field goal rate. When dissecting those numbers, we can see that Utah has shot 47.5 percent from the field, 38.3 percent from three-point range, and 77.2 percent from the free throw line. They rank inside the top-five in field goal and three-point field goal percentages.

However, those numbers are likely to decrease come playoff time. Rotations get shorter, defensive specialists get more minutes, and defenses tend to play with a higher sense of urgency. It would be hard to stop the likes of Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell, but other players might suffer from a different defensive approach from the opposition.

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Sucker Bet Or Sleeper?

This takes us to what they’ve done on the opposite end of the court. Utah must find a way to get better when it comes to one-on-one defense, as well as hustling more on loose balls. Rudy Gobert can be a one-man show on defense, but he can only do so much on his own and near the rim. Utah must defend better on the perimeter, but they’re currently lacking specialists to do so.

The Jazz also average 4.0 blocks per game, the second-worst mark in league this season. However, that’s a topic for another day. Quite simply, Utah must do a better job defending and they need to go the extra mile when guarding opponents. That’s the only way to be successful in the playoffs. Any team can score, but typically, the ones that are able to stop their rivals consistently have better chances of making a deep playoff run.

After all, defense wins championships, and the Jazz are not doing enough on that side of the ball to be considered a viable contender in a star-studded Western Conference ahead of the 2019-2020 NBA Playoffs. At +3300 to win it all, per DraftKings Sportsbook, it would seem that you should place your wagers elsewhere.

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