SALT LAKE CITY — With the way the last week has gone for the Utah Jazz — four losses in four home games since returning from the All-Star break — it’s reasonable to think that each defeat could compound on the last one from a mental standpoint, making getting out of the funk akin to getting out of quicksand.
On the contrary, Wednesday night after Utah fell to the Boston Celtics 114-103, multiple Jazz players focused comments on how good they still feel they can be rather than wallowing much in the recent woes.
“It’s important not to start to sink into a dark place in this time,” point guard Mike Conley said. “Continue to stay together but think less of the result right now and get back to fundamentals and working and being physical defensively and getting rebounds and pushing the ball, being unselfish — all the little things that we preach every day — and we will start to win games. That’s not an issue. We’re too good not to. Just got to continue to play the right way.”
Said center Rudy Gobert: “Every day is a new opportunity to get better. Even if we lost a few games that we think we should have won, we’re still in a good position. We still want to be a playoff team, and we still think if we do the right thing, we can be very good. We’ve got to figure it out now and finish the season on a high note and then get ready for the playoffs.”
As numerous players have said during the losing streak, however, saying the right things can only get a team so far, and there’s still a gap between how Utah is playing and the way it needs to play to win, even if there was improvement against the Celtics. Most notably, players such as Bojan Bogdanovic and Joe Ingles are still struggling, and the Jazz finished Wednesday with a bad 126.7 defensive rating.
On Friday night, Utah will close out its longest homestand of the season against the Washington Wizards. The Wizards are a bad 21-36, but are just one spot outside the playoffs in the Eastern Conference, although they entered Thursday night 4.5 games behind the Orlando Magic.
Washington could prove an interesting challenge for a Jazz team that has been poor on defense of late, as the Wizards are fifth in the NBA in points per game (Utah is 17th). Their star, Bradley Beal, scored 53 and 55 points, respectively, in consecutive games earlier this week after he was somewhat controversially not named an All-Star.
On the flip side, Washington gives up the most points of any team in the league, and the Jazz generally have had success against bad defensive teams.
As is always the case, though, the emphasis in preparation for Friday will surely be on the defensive end of the floor.
“For the most part, I think we are on the right path defensively,” Gobert said Wednesday.
Added Donovan Mitchell: “We competed defensively. I think we can hang our hats on that, but now it’s about sustaining it for 48 minutes.”
The Jazz, who entered Thursday night in a tie for fifth in the Western Conference with the Oklahoma City Thunder and just a half-game up on the seventh-place Dallas Mavericks, will go on a four-game road trip next week after Friday’s contest. They’ll open it Monday against the Cleveland Cavaliers, then play the New York Knicks, Celtics again and the Detroit Pistons.