At this point last season, the Utah Jazz were well out of playoff contention, but their best basketball of the year was still to come. Roughly a year ago, Utah traded away Enes Kanter, allowing Rudy Gobert to break out as the starting center. A move that would transform the Jazz into a stingy and relentless defensive force. Over that stretch, the Jazz went 19-10 over their last 29 games and established relatively high expectations for themselves this year.
This season got off to a bit of a rocky start given all the injuries, but the Jazz’s seven-game winning streak just before the break pushed them to a solid 26-26 record, good for 8th in the Western Conference.