Before the season, the Utah Jazz were the darlings of the NBA cognoscenti. Zach Lowe predicted they’d win 50 games this season, up from 40 last season. Others believed in the team’s depth and young talent, pegging them as a top-four seed in a loaded Western Conference season.
Turns out, they were spot-on. Utah has the fourth-best record in the conference (47-29) and the league’s fifth-best point differential per 100 possessions (5.0), trailing only the Warriors, Spurs, Rockets and Raptors. In fact, with its peripheral stats, the Jazz should be outperforming its current record.