Seeding games power ranking: OKC Thunder defense bolsters their position
Utah Jazz:
T.I. called this coming into the bubble. The loss of Bojan Bogdanovic was bound to cause issues and the spacing was clearly off without him.
Despite having the 15th ranked strength of schedule facing a cumulative opponent win total of 286 the Jazz struggled. Their wins came against the equally struggling Pelicans, injury-hit Grizzlies, and a Spurs team who had just learned they had no shot at the play-in tournament. Not exactly something to be jumping up and down over.
Utah held the fourth seed in the West for the majority of the season but the only damage they did in Orlando was to beat the Spurs in their last game. By virtue of that win, it created a three-way tie with the OKC Thunder and Rockets. Because all three teams tied it allowed the Rockets to take the fourth seed over the Thunder.
Seeding Game Results:
Jazz 106 – Pelicans 104
OKC Thunder 110 – Jazz 94
Lakers 116 – Jazz 108
Jazz 124 – Grizzlies 115
Spurs 119 – Jazz 111
Nuggets 134 – Jazz 132: 2OT
Mavericks 122 – Jazz 114
Jazz 118 – Spurs 112