Can the Jazz turn elite regular season play into playoff success?

The Jazz with Rudy Gobert in the lineup were one of the best teams in the NBA in the regular season. Utah went 37-19 with their All-NBA center playing, which projects to a 54 win pace. They won 28 of their final 34 games and had the best net rating after the All-Star break. Even when including their under .500 first half of the year, the Jazz finished as the fourth best team in Basketball Reference’s Simple Rating System.

In other words, an elite team.

However, in the first game of their playoff series against the Thunder, they did not appear to be elite. They got dominated by the Thunder, Donovan Mitchell got banged up and they now have a slim margin of error to pull off the mild upset that many of us predicted. So how will they respond?

To answer this question, Tony Jones (@tribjazz) joins the newest episode of Fastbreak Breakfast. Tony covers the Jazz and the NBA for the Salt Lake Tribune and thinks Game 1 against Oklahoma City was a “butt-kicking.” What adjustments will Utah make? How is Mitchell’s foot? Can this team turn elite regular season play into postseason success?

In addition, Tony weighs on the Rookie of the Year debate and where Gobert ranks among the top players in the league.

All Fastbreak Breakfast episodes are also available for download on iTunes and Soundcloud.

Original music provided by Codaphonic and New Man

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