6 HRS AGO - Rudy Gobert making highlights in Atlanta among the league’s best | Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images All-Star weekend is better when the Jazz and its history are a part of the action Alas, the mid-season break begins, where fans wish for time to speed up for more NBA games while players hope for the opposite. Fresh off the heels of the most jam-packed All-Star Weekend ever, with all events taking place in one evening, there’s extra time to mull over the weekend’s happenings given Utah Jazz fans won’t see the team back in action until Friday when they host the Houston Rockets. Rudy Gobert, Donovan Mitchell, and Mike Conley represented Utah at his season’s festivities and gave everyone moments worth cheering for. This got us thinking: the Utah Jazz belong at All-Star weekend, and the experience is better with Jazzmen involved. Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images Donovan Mitchell entertains fans in the 3P competition Sure, a Jazz fan saying the Jazz Collapse

3 DAYS AGO - Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images This is the opportunity they should be embracing From a young age, every Jazz fan realizes something is different about rooting for the Utah Jazz than for fans of every other team. Growing up, I always wondered why, in a game where Karl Malone would decimate everyone in his path, the highlights would focus on the other team, even if the Jazz had beaten them. On SportsCenter a young Kobe Bryant would get all the screen time during the ESPN highlight of a midseason Jazz/Lakers game with the final score showing a Jazz 10-point victory. Young Jazz fans would switch off the cable TV, watch in disbelief as the round screen faded to black and mutter in the most Utah-way possible, “What the heck!?” then go to bed. Jazz fans watched things like Dick Bavetta take an obvious 3-pointer away from Howard Eisley in Game 6 of the NBA Finals. (the video below is timestamped. Careful, if you’re a young Jazz fan and haven’t seen these they cause pain.) Only Collapse

5 DAYS AGO - Mary Holt-USA TODAY Sports Three losses in six games come largely due to the failings on that end The Utah Jazz have lost three of their last six games. It’s nothing to panic over, after all, Utah hasn’t lost back-to-back games since Jan. 5-6. But given the fanbase prides itself on Utah having the best record in the NBA and a loss total still in single digits, the sudden lack of long win streaks feels more worrying than it really is. Utah’s problems in the last few games largely boil down to issues on one side of the ball. Offensively, they’ve maintained great play with the league’s second-best offensive rating since Feb. 18 and their shooting numbers are just as great in that span. The Jazz simply aren’t stopping teams as they did during the win streak. In that brilliant 21-game run where they won 20 times (17 by double-digits), eight of Utah’s opponents failed to score 100 points and 15 failed to reach the league average point total (112.1). In a (definitely not) surprising Collapse

6 DAYS AGO - NBAE via Getty Images The trade deadline is fast approaching The NBA trade deadline of March 25th is fast approaching. The Utah Jazz have been pretty active in recent years, most notably bringing on Jordan Clarkson last season (although not truly at the deadline). Let’s take a quick look at the past few years of Jazz mid-season trades: 2020 - Dante Exum and two 2nd rounders for Jordan Clarkson 2018 - Joe Johnson and Rodney Hood for Jae Crowder 2016 - 2nd round pick for Shelvin Mack 2015 - Enes Kanter and Steve Novak for 1st rounder and Tibor Pleiss Dennis Lindsey and now Justin Zanik have not been afraid to shake things up right at or near the trade deadline. Sometimes that has been absolutely necessary due to a player demand. But sometimes it was to try and fill a hole for a competing team. But what about this season? The Utah Jazz currently find themselves with the best record in the NBA. They have championship aspirations and things have been going really well. Should Collapse

7 DAYS AGO - Rudy Gobert warms up following Utah’s 7th loss of the season to the Miami Heat. | Photo by Fernando Medina/NBAE via Getty Images As we near the season’s half-way point, let’s reflect on common lesson’s to be learned from Utah’s 7 losses Most things have gone extremely well for the Jazz this season. Continuity, health, experience, and refined strategies have all aided in a blistering hot start to the season that’s carried Utah to a 27-7 record with just two games left in the first half schedule: @NOP and @PHI. While important to be self-aware and self-critical for continuous improvement, there’s not much to nitpick, frankly. Here how the Jazz measure up to highly correlated metrics of team talent and success: Point Differential: +12.6 (1st) per CleaningTheGlasseFG% Advantage: +6.1% (1st) per NBA StatsAdjusted 4 Factors: 0.132 (1st) per NBA StufferSimple Rating System (SRS): 10.31 (1st) per Basketball ReferenceFull-Strength Rating: 1698 (1st) per FiveThirtyEight In short, the Collapse

2/27/2021 - Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images The Jazz couldn’t overcome a great game from Jimmy Butler The Utah Jazz fell to the Miami Heat in a Friday night slugfest. The Jazz played admirably, however, the suddenly surging Heat played a gritty defensive game and super star Jimmy Butler imposed his will at the end leading the heat to a 124 - 116 victory. Jimmy Butler nearly had a triple double and was dominant on the offensive end for the whole game. In the first quarter Butler did a good job of getting stretch big Bam Adebayo involved in the game which was key because if Bam is in a rhythm he can make life really difficult for Rudy Gobert. The game went back and forth with lead never going over 10 points for either team but in the forth quarter the Heat clamped down on the Jazz and created enough separation to put it away. The Jazz were able to pull within 116-115 with 2:30 left in the game but then Butler scored the next five points unanswered for the Heat to ice the game. Collapse

2/25/2021 - Donovan Michell and the Jazz challenge Lebron’s Lakers claim to the throne On a night that most Jazz fans had penciled in their calendars for months to see how the Utah Jazz would stack up against the Los Angeles Lakers, it felt a little empty as the Lakers were without both Anthony Davis and Dennis Schroder to injury. The Jazz won easily in a game that was never in question 114 - 89. Mike Conley, fresh off his latest all-star snub, played with a little bit of fire with a three pointer to start the game followed by a quick steal and a layup. Conley added a couple of assists and another three as he controlled the tempo and put the Jazz up early 13-9 early. Mountain Mike with 8 points early #TakeNote | @MCONLEY10 pic.twitter.com/1oxXjIx5zA— utahjazz (@utahjazz) February 25, 2021 The Jazz were hitting plenty of their shots early on, but couldn’t pull away due to turnovers and undisciplined defense. The turnovers seemed mostly unforced mental lapses. Rudy Gobert, despite Collapse

2/24/2021 - Photo by Melissa Majchrzak/NBAE via Getty Images Not having Mike Conley on the All-Star team is a Shams According to Shams Charania, Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert have been selected to the Western Conference All-Star reserves. Sources: 2021 NBA All-Star reserves:West: Chris Paul, Paul George, Damian Lillard, Donovan Mitchell, Rudy Gobert, Zion Williamson, Anthony DavisEast: James Harden, Julius Randle, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Zach LaVine, Ben Simmons, Nikola Vucevic— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 23, 2021 The Utah Jazz duo are now both multi-year All-Stars and deservedly so. Donovan Mitchell has put up big numbers as the focal point of one of the best offenses for the best team in the NBA. This season he’s averaging 24.5 points, 5.2 assists and 4.4 rebounds, all of those being career highs. Rudy Gobert is also having a huge season as the DPOY front runner and the cornerstone of one of the most dominant defenses in the league. Gobert is averaging a Collapse

2/22/2021 - Jordan Clarkson launches a corner 3 against the LA Clippers | Photo by Adam Pantozzi/NBAE via Getty Images As Utah closes the first half of the season, a look at their nightly shooting advantage indicates the Jazz are a very dangerous team The Utah Jazz sit at 24-6 as they prepare to close out the final six games of the first half schedule, starting tonight against the Charlotte Hornets at home. That’s 2.5 games ahead in the loss column of the LA Lakers and 4 games ahead of the LA Clippers (if you count Utah winning the season series). What a spot to be in! As we look back on season so far, you can’t help but smile at the seemingly improbable run the Jazz have had. As unlikely as it may seem, the Jazz were seesawing in the early going. Utah showcased a bit of what the team was capable of in solid wins over POR, LAC, and SAS, yet left fans scratching their heads at the losses to MIN and PHX. Jazz were 3-3 prior to the back-to-back losses in the Big Apple to BKN and NYK. Collapse