UTAH JAZZ AFTER THE 1ST 10 GAMES. (TYLER)

So the first TEN games are finished for the Utah Jazz. Lets see they fared....

1. @LA LAKERS             L 71-96
2. @DENVER                   L 100-117
3. PHILADELPHIA          W 102-99
4. @SAN ANTONIO       L 89-104
5. NEW ORLEANS          W 94-90
6. MILWAUKEE              W 85-73
7. MEMPHIS                    W 94-85
8. @GOLDEN STATE     W 88-87
9. CLEVELAND               W 113-102
10. LA. LAKERS                L 87-90 (OT)

After looking at the Wins/Losses my assessment of the Jazz is that they are still a young team, trying to learn each other and how to play with each other. You can see early in the year the Jazz were taking licks from the likes of the Lakers, the Nuggets, and the Spurs. However, once the Jazz make it back home they are all but unstoppable. With the only loss at home coming to the Lakers in Overtime. Unfortunately you have to be able to beat the better teams to make it anywhere, the Jazz are playing well against lower tier teams like Cleveland and Milwaukee and have shown they can battle it out with the likes of Golden State and New Orleans. So how are the Jazz going to fare this season... pretty well... i will show you how.

• Youth- The Jazz are one of the youngest teams in the league, and C.J. Miles at 26 years is the longest tenured Jazz-man with 7 years. How will being young help? This season isn't your regular NBA season with only 66 games in a shorter amount of time, making way for back-to-back-to-back series with different teams in different cities. Older teams like the Spurs, Mavericks, and Lakers will wear out later in the season, making way for the younger bodies like the Thunder, Blazers, and Jazz to slide up spots in the playoff race.
• Defense- The main reason i bring this up is because after watching the Jazz vs. Lakers the other night, the Jazz were able to hold the Lakers to 78 points at the end of regulation, which is their lowest scoring total by far this season, the next closest being 90 against Memphis & Denver. Of course that game went into Overtime where the Lakers finished with 90 points. Also the Jazz are second in the NBA in Blocks per game giving them the title of Swat Lake City. An impressive stat considering that the Jazz are playing Jerry Sloan defense without Sloan as Coach.
• Bench Production- The Jazz have a talented and deep bench. The 2nd stringers include Earl Watson, C.J. Miles, Josh Howard, Derrick Favors, and Enes Kanter. Each of these players have shown that they can come into a game and continue to perform on the court.

The downfall i see to the Jazz hopes this year is the fact that they are 22nd in the NBA (out of 30) in Scoring. (points per game) and it is going to be tough to win big games if you cannot score enough, regardless of how good the defense of the team is. The addition of Josh Howard i think help the Jazz tremendously especially coming off the bench and he will become a difference maker for the Jazz sooner rather than later.

What also hurts the Jazz is the division they are playing in. Second only to the Southeast Division that has Miami, Orlando, and Atlanta,the Northwest Division is one of the toughest divisions in the NBA right now with Oklahoma City, Portland, Denver, and Utah. However the Western Conference is showing weakness with some of it's higher tier teams which could prove very helpful to the Jazz, climbing possibly as high as a 5 seed in the conference. I do think the Jazz will end up topping Denver in the division and finish 3rd behind OKC and Portland. But only time will tell, and i am excited to see what the Jazz can prove in the next 10 games.