NBA power rankings week 13: Halfway mark, OKC Thunder hold steady

Utah Jazz:

Offense: (111.1) tied 8th
Defense: (106.7) tied 9th
Net: (plus +4.4) 7th

Games Week 13 (2-1): Won vs. Nets: 118-107, Kings: 123-101 Lost vs. Pelicans: 132-138 (OT)
Games Week 14 (3 games): Mon vs. Pacers | Weds at Warriors | Sat vs. Mavericks

The Jazz 10-game winning streak came to an end versus the Pelicans and with it some obvious questions. Although Donovan Mitchell scored 46 points in the overtime loss it took 34 shots to net those totals.

As the leading scorer on the club, it’s reasonable to assume he would take the most shots but should he be taking almost half of the starters shots and isn’t that a recipe for teams to simply focus on limiting him or forcing him to cough up the ball to a teammate? The stats say it isn’t the right recipe given the Jazz are 1-5 when Mitchell shoots 30 or more times in a game.

The other neon light is although teams can only play the opponent on the schedule the 10 wins included one against a seeded team with a record over .500 (Clippers).

Dive a little deeper and the previous seven losses were to the Heat, Thunder, Lakers, 76ers, Raptors, Pacers, and Bucks. What do they all have in common? — They’re all teams with records over .500 and seeded on the current playoff ladder.

Mike Conley made his return to the lineup entering off the bench. He played a precautionary 15:14 with three points on 1 of 3 (all 3-point shots), a rebound, three assists and two steals.

We’ll need to keep an eye on whether Quin Snyder sticks with this strategy to bring a $32.5 million player off the bench or tries to re-integrate him into the starting rotation and bring Royce O’Neale off the bench since Joe Ingles has blossomed back in the starting group.