Jazz End Up With Houston After Four Comebacks in Two Nights

Harden and the Rockets squandering a big lead in OKC was just part of a crazy week. (Zach Beeker via ESPN.com)

Heading into the week, it was almost an certain that the Utah Jazz were going to remain as the fifth seed in the Western Conference playoffs, with the No. 4 Portland Trailblazers their most likely opponent. Crazy things would have to happen to stop that from happening.

Well… welcome to the final week of an NBA regular season.

It started off on Tuesday night. With the Utah Jazz earning themselves a convincing win against the Denver Nuggets, the fifth seed was locked up. Now our attention shifted to the Houston Rockets, as they competed against their potential first round matchup, the Oklahoma City Thunder. If the Rockets won, they would be set as no lower than third, and Jazz-Blazers would be locked in as a first-round matchup.

Up three with 15 seconds left, Russell Westbrook got the rim for a dunk, then Houston star James Harden missed one of two free throws to open the door. Then Paul George hit the game-winning three with one second remaining.

That’s fine though, right? The Blazers were simultaneously playing the Lakers, and much like when the Lakers hosted Utah on Sunday, L.A. actually came to play. The Lakers led for the majority of the fourth quarter, but the Blazers stuck with it, chipping away slowly until the game was tied at 101-101 with just 30 seconds remaining. Alex Caruso had a costly turnover with 18 seconds left and on the other side of the court the ball found it’s way into the hands of Maurice Harkless in the corner. Harkless is a 27.5% three point shooter on the season overall, and just 29% in the corner. Swish. Blazers win, 104-101.

Fast forward to Wednesday night’s action and there was still a good chance that the Jazz would be facing the Blazers. If either Minnesota or Sacramento was able to secure victories against Denver or the Portland, respectively, the Blazers would still wind up as the No. 4 seed. 

Denver, still fighting to secure the No. 2 seed, clearly cared and came to play against the Wolves, but that didn’t stop them from almost dropping the game. While Minnesota was resting Karl-Anthony Towns, they still found a way to be up 11 with just under four minutes left. The Nuggets proceeded to go on a 15-0 run, and won the game by four. 

So it would all come down to the Sacramento Kings. Welp.

While the Nuggets were trying to win earlier, the Blazers were not. They intentionally rested the majority of their team, and played only 6 players for the entire game. Meanwhile, the Kings were at full strength and banging on all cylinders. They scored 87 points in the first half. In the first half! At one point they we leading by 28 points, and they continued to lead by 22 points late in the third.

Then the Kings then mysteriously rested all of their starters in the second half and allowed the Blazers to storm back into the game. The Blazers outscored the Kings 38-18 in the final frame, and won the game by five.

#RipCity pic.twitter.com/nS59QMPcdf

— Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) April 11, 2019

So here we are.  The Utah Jazz now have a first round playoff matchup with the very team that bounced them from the playoffs last year. The Jazz were depleted by injuries and lost that series in five games. Has enough changed from last year to now that they will fare better this time around?

The regular season series was split, 2-2, with both teams winning one game at home, and another on the road. So this past season would lead you to believe that this series could go thee distance. The arc of both teams was very similar throughout the year. Both largely under-performed over the first few months of the season, once things clicked though, they were the best teams at the close of the season.

From January 1 on, both team tied for the second best record in the NBA, behind only the Milwaukee Bucks. Houston had the second best offensive rating, and the 10th best defensive rating during that stretch, while the Utah Jazz had the number six offense, and the best rated defense. Their net rating was almost identical, with the Jazz at +7.7, and Houston at +7.1.

Facing off against James Harden and Chris Paul is intimidating, but by the numbers, this Jazz team is every bit as capable as the Houston Rockets.

Game 1 of the series will be this Sunday at 7:30 pm MST, with the game airing on TNT.