A diminished Kobe?
If you’re the Jazz, you take your victories any way you can.
Following their embarrassing loss to Atlanta, Wednesday, they have fallen to the fourth-best record in the Western Conference. That puts then 5 1/2 games back of first-place San Antonio. At the same time, they’re only five games out of the No. 8 position, last seed in the playoffs.
So, as usual, the Jazz are neither all the way in the race, nor all the way out.
Maybe the most encouraging news for them right now is that Kobe Bryant isn’t his normal self. OK, he’s still fourth in scoring in the NBA, but according to Pete Vecsey in the New York Post, wear and tear are catching up on Bryant.
Nobody should wish for injuries to hamper a players as great as Bryant. But for the Jazz, it does mean Bryant might not be as dominating at the end of the season as usual. (The Lakers have eliminated Utah the last three years.) Meantime, the Jazz will have to take care not to screw up and miss the playoffs. Don’t laugh. Deron Williams said after Wednesday’s game, “I would say that we’re struggling, not beating the type of teams we will be playing in the playoffs – if we get to the playoffs.”