Say what you will about the cupcake walk the Utah Jazz enjoyed on the back end of their 2018-19 schedule, the fact still remains that their first-half slate was about as gnarly a stretch as any team could possibly be asked to endure. 16 of the team’s first 24 games (and 21 of 33) were on the road and much of the first half of the season was played against a litany of the league’s elite.
Believe it or not, that was actually viewed by many as an improvement over the previous campaign. Next year, though, with the Jazz looking to make their most postseason noise since John Stockton and Karl Malone led the team to back-to-back Finals in the ’90s, the slate may be a bit more amenbable to setting up the dream run.