Five Guaranteed Ways For Jazz To Get Back On Track

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Yes, the Utah Jazz snapped its five-game losing streak but that does not mean the team is playing all that well.

The losing streak really could be at six games since the Jazz won due to an admitted error by the officials which saw Rudy Gobert clearly touch the ball after it hit the backboard. The call should have been goaltending and the game would have been tied at 116 with just over 10 seconds left and the Jazz with the ball, and possibly a different ending.

The end result was a 117-114 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday night.

The Jazz snap a five-game losing streak but it comes with controversy on a missed call in the final ten seconds. Here's what Quin Snyder and Jazz players had to say about the missed call after the game. #TakeNotehttps://t.co/cOq253JPr2 pic.twitter.com/3aedYwj0YF

— Zak Hicken (@zakhicken) February 8, 2020

Don’t fool yourself to thinking this win has the Jazz back on track. For one, they were down by as many as 16 against a team with a losing record and trailed by 16 points in the third quarter. The Jazz are just 2-3 against teams with a winning record since Jan. 20 and an overall record of 4-5 which includes two losses against teams with a losing record.

Yeah, the Jazz are still in a slump.

Five Slumpbusting Methods

sports.ksl.com’s Scott Mitchell is sick and tired of the Jazz losing and has a full proof method to get them back to their winning ways and it will take more than just a few wins here are there but a substantial winning streak that includes winning games over Western Conference playoff teams.

Mitchell has plenty of experience in how to break out of slumps during his time in the NFL. Some may seem a bit outlandish and off the wall, but he is serious about all five of these.

      1. Tennis ball

The idea behind this ball is bouncing the ball off the wall and catching it and Mitchell admits this is “stupid” but they have been tested and work.

“The tennis ball idea is bouncing away the bad energy and catching in the good energy,” Mitchell said. “We are bouncing back from defeat. It is the whole idea that getting rid of the bad energy but it is this whole bounce back thing.”

      2. Breath thru your eyelids

This one does seem odd but it is a relaxation technique to get players to just relax. Mitchell notes the most popular example of this comes from the movie “Bull Durham.” “It is the idea of not having any thoughts and eliminate all thinking,” Mitchell said. “You are concentrating on this stupid thing that has nothing to do with what you are doing. We get into our head too often and cloud it with way too much information.”

Basically, the idea is to get the Jazz players to relax and play without overloading their brain with a dozen or so of other things that are proving to be a distraction.

      3. Positive talk

This one is great because by receiving praise is so much better than focusing on the negative play to provide inspiration. Flip the script and provide positive affirmation is a way to build confidence.

“So, whenever you do something and you miss a free throw and then you say to yourself, ‘that didn’t happen,’ or you say, ‘I am accurate, I am strong, I am a finisher’ and is positive talk,” Mitchell said. “You create a new reality for yourself.”

Even though the @utahjazz are struggling he likes what he is getting out of @JordanClarksons. #TakeNote pic.twitter.com/xeSsoq2Fp4

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) February 8, 2020

This way you keep on lifting yourself up and look back at only the good things that happened and project positively toward your play.

      4. Skip down the court

Mitchell admits this one is really stupid. However, it can be a useful tool to get back into a positive manner, and yes, Mitchell says he has done this before and with good results.

“It is actually so ridiculous that you laugh and giggle at yourself and that actually releases positive endorphins,” Mitchell said. “You are changing your whole tempo and just having fun. This one actually changes your endorphins and helps you feel better.”

So, what Mitchell is really saying is to just to get out of a slump or depression is to just be silly.

      5. Read Barbara Streisand’s autobiography, yes really 

OK, this one might be the oddest of the bunch. Mitchell said he used to read Barbara Streisand’s autobiography before he took the field. The reason for this last one is to enter an extremely calm state before taking the field.

This was Mitchell’s idea but the point is that reading something that is so different and laid back in its material can allow for an athlete to clear the mind before a game.

Just follow these five steps and the Jazz will get back to winning a lot and moving up the Western Conference standings and achieve home-court advantage for the playoffs.

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