A Jazz improvement looming?

After losing 13 of their last 17 games, the Jazz the question is whether they’ll get better after the All-Star break.

If recent history is an indicator, the answer is yes.

In each of the last three years and five of the last seven, their post-All-Star break record was better than prior. Last year they won 66 percent of their games after the break (21-10), compared to 63 percent (32-19) beforehand. In 2008-09 they went 18-11 (62 percent) after the break , 30-23 (57 percent) before. And in 2007-08 they went 21-9 (70 percent) after the break and 33-10 (63 percent) before.

But if you go back to the end of the Karl Malone/John Stockton era, those teams did better before the break. The 2002-03 Jazz won 59 percent of their pre-break games, 55 percent after. The previous year they won 55 percent of their games before the break, half after. And in 2000-01 the Jazz won 68 percent of their pre-break games and 60 percent afterward.

There are a lot of factors, including opponents, road games, back-to-backs and injuries that can change the outcome (not to mention coaching changes). But raw numbers and recent history show the Jazz could actually be in for better days.

If you go back 10 years, it’s a dead heat: Half the time the Jazz have done better after the break, half the time they didn’t.