Watching last night's Jazz road loss to the Boston Celtics brought one phrase to my mind over and over: "If only."
If only Dante Exum hadn't blown out his knee last summer.
If only Rudy Gobert and Derrick Favors hadn't missed chunks of time due to injury.
If only the Jazz could close out games.
If only the West wasn't so crowded.
Of course, pretty much every team in the NBA can play the "if only" game. I realize that. Just about every time a team wins the NBA title, it's because their "if onlies" never happened, or they had fewer of them than everyone else.