The Jazz suffered a 147-111 loss at Minnesota on Wednesday, officially eliminating them from playoff contention, according to the NBA league office (Twitter link).
At 20-49, the best Utah could do is tie 10th-place Golden State (33-36), but even in that unlikely scenario, the Warriors would win the tie-breaker. The Jazz become the fifth team to be eliminated, joining Indiana, Sacramento, Washington and Brooklyn.
Wednesday’s game was never really close, even though the Timberwolves were playing without Anthony Edwards (right knee inflammation) and Naz Reid (right shoulder contusion). Ayo Dosunmu, who was acquired at the trade deadline, made his second straight start and led Minnesota with 23 points.
As expected, it’s been a rough season for the Jazz, who haven’t been above .500 since getting off to a 2-1 start. They went through a four-game losing streak in November, another four-game skid in December, a five-game slide in late December and early January, then slipped far out of play-in territory by losing 10 of 11 games starting in mid-January.
Injuries to Lauri Markkanen contributed to the decline as the star forward has only played 42 times and has been available just once since February 11 due to a right hip impingement. He hasn’t been ruled out for the season, but there’s little incentive for him to return with Utah already out of postseason contention.
Starting center Walker Kessler suffered a torn left shoulder labrum early in the season and only appeared in five games.
The Jazz had been projected to finish among the bottom teams in the league, putting themselves in position to land one of the top picks in a loaded draft. Utah currently holds the fifth-worst record and is three games away from Brooklyn for a bottom-three spot and a share of the best odds heading into the lottery.
The Jazz may have been too aggressive in their pursuit of tanking, as they were fined $500K last month for “conduct detrimental to the league” after sitting Markkanen and Jaren Jackson Jr. for the fourth quarters of games February 7 at Orlando and February 9 at Miami.
The blockbuster trade that brought Jackson from Memphis signified that Utah is ready to start winning soon. Jackson underwent knee surgery three games after joining the Jazz, but he’s expected to be ready for the start of next season, along with Kessler, who’s headed for restricted free agency but is likely to be re-signed.
The Jazz will head into next season looking for their first winning record and playoff appearance since 2021/22.
Jazz suck. And they are not jazzy in the least.
I’m sure that Ainge popped the champagne. But he knows they’ve accomplished nothing yet, as the real goal (a top – bottom – 3 finish) is still out there.
Outranking 2 of the Pacers, Nets, Kings, and Wizards is going to take a real Herculean effort…