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On Friday night the No. 1 seed Utah Jazz will face the No. 2 seed Phoenix Suns.
On first glance, it’s a game that could lead many people to put a lot of weight on the outcome, but I’m advising that you watch this game with a little bit of a light heart.
Let’s not beat around the bush, there are seeding implications here. If the Jazz lose to the Suns they’ll be tied in the standings and the Suns have already won the tiebreaker this season by beating the Jazz in their first two meetings.
If the Jazz want to keep the top seed, they just have to finish with a better record at the end of the season. I realize that’s something easier said than done, but the Jazz do have a bit of an easier schedule through the remainder of the regular season than the Suns, so in theory, they should be able to make it happen.
But back to the matter at hand.
If the Jazz beat the Suns on Friday, that would be great. They likely will have done it without their leading scorer, Donovan Mitchell (scheduled to have his sprained right ankle reevaluated on Friday), and they could be without Mike Conley, who recently aggravated his already existing tight hamstring. It would be a good win, but not necessarily an indication of which team is better or who would win in a seven-game series. It’s one game.
If the Jazz lose to the Suns on Friday, it wouldn’t come as a shock and it shouldn’t cause any Jazz fans to hit the panic button. Like I said, the Jazz aren’t at full strength right now and the Suns have been buzzing along with Chris Paul and Devin Booker in a really nice groove. Just as a win wouldn’t say much about who the Jazz are when they’re firing on all cylinders, a loss wouldn’t either.
Sure, a win would be wonderful for the win-loss column, and it would be even better for the confidence of the players, especially if the Jazz pull it off with a shorthanded roster, but the Jazz won’t be wringing their hands or throwing in the towel if they lose, and neither should the fans.
We are in the true dog days of the regular season — no one performance should be put on a pedestal or used as a measuring stick. Save all that energy for the playoffs, which begin in 22 days.
New with the Jazz
Stat of the week
Through the last four games, Georges Niang is averaging 13.5 points and shooting 56% from 3-point range. On the season, Niang is shooting a career-best 42.1% from 3, and that’s including his slow start to the season when he shot 18.8% from deep through the first 10 games of the 2020-21 campaign.
From the archives
This week in Jazz history
On May 3, 1974, “Pistol” Pete Maravich was obtained by the expansion New Orleans Jazz from Atlanta in exchange for first-round draft picks in 1974 and 1975, second-round picks in 1975 and 1976, and the Jazz’s second and third selections in the expansion draft.
Extra points
- Utah Jazz set franchise records in 49-point thrashing of Sacramento Kings (Deseret News)
- The MVP cases for, and against, Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert (The Athletic)
- Jordan Clarkson and Joe Ingles are both in the running for sixth man honors, but who should win? (Deseret News)
Around the league
The Denver Nuggets are signing Austin Rivers for the rest of the season after a successful 10-day contract with the playoff-bound team that is without Jamal Murray.
Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart was suspended for one game on Wednesday after using “threatening language” toward an official in Tuesday’s loss to the Thunder.
Up next
Apr. 30 | 8 p.m. | at Phoenix Suns | AT&T SportsNet
May 1 | 8 p.m. | vs. Toronto Raptors | NBA TV/AT&T SportsNet
May 3 | 8 p.m. | vs. San Antonio Spurs | AT&T SportsNet
May 5 | 7 p.m. | vs. San Antonio Spurs | NBA TV/AT&T SportsNet
May 7 | 8 p.m. | vs. Denver Nuggets | ESPN