After a historic, memorable and amazing 82-game season, the Utah Jazz are dancing in the postseason for the second straight year, and second straight at the 5th spot. Instead of the Los Angeles Clippers, this year the Oklahoma City Thunder get to salsa and waltz with Utah for the next two weeks. Here’s hoping we step on their feet.

ICYMI: Two Jazz players are in the conversation for end-of-season awards and it’s time to make their case. For Rudy Gobert, is he an All-NBA center and Defensive Player of the Year nominee or did injuries deter the legitimacy of his candidacy? For Donovan Mitchell, people outside of Utah may wonder why we are infatuated with this guy, but he healed our heartbroken souls of 2017 and is giving us a glimpse of excitement, stardom, and passion we haven’t had in awhile.

How It Will All Go Right—extremely accurate, of course

After beating the Golden State Warriors by forty on Tuesday, Rudy Gobert told the rest of the team to lose on purpose in the season finale so they could give Oklahoma City a beatdown, in their Chesapeake Energy Arena. Sure, they will have homecourt advantage, he said, but that means we can sweep them and finish at our place.

#takeFnnote, he proclaimed.

The Jazz roar to a game one victory as Donovan Mitchell makes his playoff debut with a 34 point performance, on six triples all against Paul George. On the last triple, Billy Donovan calls a timeout and George starts walking with Mitchell to the Jazz bench. Mitchell is seen whispering, “Come to Utah, man, you don’t want to play with these jokers anymore.”

After the game one victory, Dennis Lindsay can’t help but text Denver. “How’s your vacation?” he asks, “Thanks again, for well, you know. [inserts Dancing Gif].”

Game two is a similar story but this time it’s the other prized Nugget that dominates. Confused why some are picking Steven Adams as the better big man for the series or if Gobert could soon go out of style, The French Rejection goes beast mode in the form of 20 boards, 6 blocks, and a middle finger to the OKC home crowd (so a $25,000 fine, too).

As the Jazz come back to Salt Lake, the city is buzzing like it’s 1996. There hasn’t been a team this fun for a while and the home-crowd is back to full-throttle of old. Behind the vibrant colors of court and fan, the Jazz put on a team-best shooting display, connecting on 50% from deep in the first half.  The Jazz’s depth is a key to the series and it’s those off the pine that hit the triples: Jerebko nails four, Crowder makes all three of his attempts, even Exum nails two corner triples.

Russell Westbrook goes nuts in the second half, single-handedly willing the Thunder within one with ten seconds left in the ball game. It’s his third straight triple-double, but like most of those, it usually leads to an L. See, the problem is that the Jazz now have the ball, in rowdy Vivint Arena, and rookie Donovan Mitchell gets the ball at the top of the key. Many say DM reminds them of D-Wade, and remember in 04 that rookie Wade led the Heat to some improbable wins.  The future 2018 Rookie-of-the-Year flashes forward to his best Flash impression by hitting a game-winning floater in the lane to seal the win.

To complete the sweep, the Jazz continue to use their depth and hot shooting to take an early first-quarter double-digit lead. It’s early second quarter, Russ gets frustrated when teammate Carmelo Anthony grabs a rebound instead of letting Brodie collect his stats. Westbrook charges at Melo, hip checks him (like Teague did to Rubio), and the two teammates start brawling before being separated by Quin Snyder, of all people. The refs look at each other, confused on what discipline to impose, but eject both. The Jazz cruise and the Jazz Bear brings out the broom.

Oh, and come July, Paul George is in Utah holding up his new Jazz jersey.

Fine, Seriously. Keys to Make It All Go Right

Throughout the series, I believe there are three questions to highlight and track. In fact, after each game, I plan on checking back in on these questions to see if it makes a difference and leads the Jazz to victory.

One: Coaching

This NBA first round seems like one with many coaching subplots against star players or situations. Pop vs Dubs: How will the greatest coach of all-time, Coach Popovich, scheme against the Warriors? Stevens vs The Greek Freak: can another mastermind coach find counters and weaknesses in the budding star? Spo vs Simmons: Coach Spoelstra, of Miami, is a tactician who has seen games daring stars to shoot. Will he employ a similar strategy of backing his D down to scare the rookie? Thibs vs himself: as a traditionalist and a stubborn hard nose, will he adapt anything to slow down Houston or will he be his best enemy?

Oh, and one more: Quin vs Westbrook.

Coach Snyder is one of the best. Westbrook is one of the best. How will one take advantage of the other?

Two: Rudy’s Impact

For Salt City Hoops, I wrote that Rudy has to play well for the Jazz to win.

Yes, he is the anchor to the team’s defense and fuels the best lineups, but his impact could also be telling for the future of the Jazz, and maybe the NBA. Can he stay on the court amidst shooters? Can he guard Westbrook or others in space? Jonathon Tjarks, of the Ringer, pointed out how difficult that was for Gobert vs Steph and the Warriors last postseason and noted: “if it starts to become a trend this postseason, there may be a ceiling to how good a team built around Gobert can be.”

In addition, Rudy vs Steven Adams has actually become a thing and will be a positional matchup worth exploring. Sure, Power Forward is another position of interest—Derrick Favors vs Carmelo Anthony—but I am still focused on the centers.

In the two games they played against each other this year, Steven Adams and Gobert are 1-1. In Utah’s win, Gobert dominated with 16 points and 13 boards. In the Thunder win, Adams was a beast with 20 and 9 while limiting Gobert to five points, six rebounds, and only one block. Head-to-head all-time favors the Aussie: 10-4.

My point is: Steven Adams is really good and an underrated cog in the Thunder’s machine, especially against Gobert. If he outplays Gobert, obviously that’s a win. But even if they end in a draw, that would be a win for OKC as well.

Three: Mitchell’s Moment

Are you concerned about the moment being too big for Rubio or Mitchell?

— Tyler D Thorpe (@TylerDThorpe) April 13, 2018

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Mitchell did look lost in the playoff-like moment against Portland during the season’s finale. He shot 6/23 and only made one of his eight deep bomb attempts. And yes, he’ll be the focus of the Thunder’s defensive game plan and will be hounded by Paul George for most of the series.

BUT.

This is the guy who averaged 22, 4, 4 post All-Star break while getting nearly 2 steals along the way, too. He’s the guy who adds highlights to his YouTube channel every night. He’s the guy who is special, exhilarating. He’s the guy who can get to a spot whenever, wherever and can get a bucket (or a trend that has popped up to end the year is his ability to get to the foul line) in a hurry. This is the guy who gives us the there’s-no-way-he-can-see-where-he-is-going-or-how-to-make-that layups or the end-of-shot-clock-pull-up from logo threes.

He’s the guy.

So Will It All Go Right?

This is bound to be one of the most competitive series in the entire playoffs, so it won’t be a surprise if the series goes six or seven games. Aside from the previously mentioned questions, who stands out as an X-Factor will be something that could tilt the series. Remember, Jae Crowder, who is instrumental in the deadliest lineups, was not on the roster when we faced and lost to OKC three times in December.

However, the biggest question hasn’t been shared yet.

Four: Can the Jazz win one on the road?

Obviously, they have to in order to win the series due to sacrificing homecourt advantage on the last night of the regular season. Last year, the team was able to play game seven in a lifeless arena which then turned the Clippers into a lifeless opponent. I do not see the same homecourt energy, or Utah Jazz result, happening in a game seven in Oklahoma. I dare say that sentiment could be echoed for a (potentially) decisive game five as well.

For that reason, the Jazz has to win one of these first two which would prove that the second-half-of-the-season run was no fluke. They are a new team, healthy, and clicking which is all that matters for postseason play. On top of that, defense travels, and defense is their calling card.

I am going with the Jazz in six.