Taking The Jazz Temperature Through 21 Games
Nov 30, 2021, 2:53 PM
Utah Jazz guards Mike Conley and Donovan Mitchell (Photo by Alex Goodlett/Getty Images)
(Photo by Alex Goodlett/Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY – The Utah Jazz have officially passed the quarter-way mark of the 2021-22 NBA season having played 21 games so far this season.
Through those games, the Jazz have a record of 14-7 and sit in the third seed in the West behind the top-ranked Golden State Warriors and the third-seeded Phoenix Suns. They also have the fourth-best record in the NBA overall trailing only the Brooklyn Nets in the East.
Now little more than 25 percent into the season, what do we know about the Jazz, and what do their numbers say compared to the rest of the NBA?
Jazz By The Numbers
Offensive Rating: 115.2
The Jazz have the best offensive rating in the NBA by a decent margin, outpacing the Warriors by a full 2.2 points per 100 possessions.
The team has the league’s best offensive rating thanks to their second-ranked effective field goal percentage (56.6 percent), and fifth-ranked offensive rebounding rate (29.4 percent).
🕷️ 30 🕷️#TakeNote pic.twitter.com/P3XFuRhuMN
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) November 30, 2021
Those two factors have allowed the Jazz to survive a steep drop in shooting from last season when they led the league in threes made per game while shooting better than 38 percent as a team.
This year the Jazz still rank second in threes made per game at 14.9 but rank 10th in team percentage at 35.7.
Defensive Rating: 105.4
This season the Jazz have the NBA’s ninth-ranked defense through 21 games, a drop from last season’s third-ranked defense, though their actual defensive rating has improved from 107.5 to 105.4.
The team’s issues on the defensive end largely stem from rebounding where they’ve allowed opposing offenses to 26.1 percent of the offensive rebounds as opposed to last season when they allowed just 24.3 percent.
📹| "It's a defense-first mindset."#WalkoffInterview | @lhmauto pic.twitter.com/8ga2PtIcEE
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) November 30, 2021
The Jazz are also turning the ball over at a higher rate than last year, committing giveaways 15.1 percent of the time as opposed to 14.2 percent of their possessions last season.
But despite the increase in turnovers, the Jazz have only seen their opponents score 0.1 points per game more than last season on fast breaks, and 0.4 points per game off turnovers.
Net Rating: 9.8
Despite owning the third-best record in the West and the fourth-best record in the NBA through 21 games, the Jazz do have the second-best net rating in the NBA at 9.8,
Net rating has traditionally been a strong indicator of a team’s success when measured over the course of the season, suggesting the Jazz may be slightly better than their overall record would imply.
Record By Opponent And Location
Through 21 games the Jazz have done most of their winning against teams who are unlikely to make the playoffs.
Of the team’s 21 opponents, 12 have a record below .500 and the Jazz are a healthy 9-3 in those games.
In their other nine games against teams at .500 or better, the Jazz are just 5-4.
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According to the website tankathon, the Jazz, along with the Milwaukee Bucks and the New York Knicks have the toughest schedule remaining with their opponents having an average win percentage of .514.
The Jazz will almost positively be a worse home team this season than they were last year when they finished with a record of 31-5 in the abbreviated 72 game season.
Last year the Jazz had a .861 percentage at home while this season that number has dropped to .666 through 12 games.
On the road, the Jazz are also winning games at a .666 rate, an upgrade over last season’s .583 winning percentage.
At their current pace, the Jazz will finish the season with a record of 54-28, down from last season’s pace which would have seen them finish at 59-23 spread over an 82 game schedule.
The Jazz have three days off before hosting the Boston Celtics on Friday night.
