A 132-125 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday — the fifth straight win for the Utah Jazz — held a lot more weight than just your run-of-the-mill win.
Not only did it mark the first five-game streak of the Will Hardy era, but the win also pushed the Jazz to 21-20 on the season — the first time in the 2023-24 season that they have held a winning record.
In doing so, the Jazz moved into ninth in the Western Conference and are just a half game behind the 8th-seeded Phoenix Suns.
Do the players care or pay attention?
“Of course,” John Collins said. “All the time, and I see us popping up in the standings a little bit. I like it. I’m enjoying all this good energy right now.”
Of course, even if they aren’t fully aware of the standings, they’re very aware of their own record and they know what kind of a record they need to be a playoff team.
The Jazz’s win over the Lakers also brought them even in their season series against one another, taking away Los Angeles’ chance on Saturday night of winning the tiebreaker, should it become important later on down the road.
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While the players might not have realized that they only play the Lakers three times this season and that the game on Saturday could have had major tiebreaker implications, what they did remember was enough to fuel them to a victory.
“I remember the (expletive) beating we got in L.A.,” Collins said. “Had this one marked on our calendar and I know everybody did and wanted to get them back a little bit.”
So what does the recent success and their position in the West mean for the Jazz?
First, it’s important to note how tight things are for the teams vying for a play-in spot in the West.
The Jazz are just a half game ahead of the Houston Rockets (10th), who are just a single game ahead of the Lakers (11th).
As mentioned above, the Suns are a half game ahead of the Jazz, and the Dallas Mavericks are just 2.5 games ahead of the Jazz in seventh.
There seems to be a little separation once you get into the guaranteed playoff spots, but here at the midway point of the season, a lot can change, and this all means that the Jazz are going to need to play really well to keep their position.
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It also means that the Jazz are no longer a team that’s toiling at the bottom of the standings and one that other teams might not take seriously when they see them on the schedule.
The Jazz are one of the hottest teams in the league right now. They might have had the Lakers game circled, but now all of the teams that are in the hunt for a play-in spot, or looking to own tiebreakers in the standings, are going to have the Jazz circled and will be looking to knock them down.
That makes upcoming games against the Golden State Warriors (Thursday), Rockets (Jan. 20) and New Orleans Pelicans (Jan. 23) even more important and even more exciting.
All that being said, Hardy is doing his best to keep the Jazz level-headed.
“I haven’t mentioned the standings once to the team,” Hardy said, “but they all know. I can promise you that with the way social media is now and friends and family and agents and all of you guys, they know where we are, but it’s my job to try to keep them focused on the present moment.”
So, the Jazz are going to try to go one day at a time, one game at a time. But all of you, the fans, you can celebrate that the Jazz are on a hot streak. They’ve won five in a row, they are moving up the standings, they’re in the playoff hunt and they’re the team to beat.
