Utah Jazz History Online Information and NBA Betting Odds at WagerWeb Sportsbook

NBA Utah Jazz History betting odds at WagerWeb Sportsbook

NBA Utah Jazz History History Early 2000s During the 1999-00 season, the Jazz won the Midwest Division but once again struggled in the postseason, losing to the Portland Trail Blazers, again during the second round. During the offseason, Hornacek retired and Howard Eisley was traded in a four-team deal that brought in Donyell Marshall. They selected promising high school basketball star DeShawn Stevenson in the first round of the NBA Draft. In the 2000-01 season, they went 53–29, but their playoff woes once again struck when they blew a 2–0 series lead in the first round of the playoffs to the Dallas Mavericks.

In the 2001-02 season, Andrei Kirilenko made his rookie debut, but overall the Jazz began to show their age and dwindling talent. The Jazz finished just 44–38 and lost to the Sacramento Kings 3–1 in the first round of the playoffs. In 2002-03, Marshall and Russell moved on to other teams. Matt Harpring, however, was brought over from the Philadelphia 76ers, contributing to the offense and experiencing his best season. The Jazz approached 50 wins going into the playoffs, ultimately going 47–35 and again losing to the Kings 4–1. After the season, the end of an era came when Stockton retired and Malone moved to the Lakers in the hunt for a championship ring with several other future Hall-of-Famers. (The Lakers fell to Detroit in the Finals the following season, after which Malone retired.)

2006-07 season

The Jazz had a surprisingly good start to the 2006-07 season, getting off to a league and franchise best 12–1 record, despite an injury to Kirilenko that caused him to miss 5 games. Williams showed remarkable improvement and finished second in the league in assists per game (behind Steve Nash), with 9.3, the most ever by any Jazz player except John Stockton. Carlos Boozer was selected to his first All-Star Game as a reserve, but missed the game due to injury; Mehmet Okur was selected as one of the four injury replacements and has developed a reputation as a remarkable clutch shooter. The team developed a very deep roster; in the 10 games that Boozer and Okur (the two leading scorers) missed, the team went 8–2. Paul Millsap became one the biggest surprise rookies of the year. The Jazz clinched their first playoff berth in 4 seasons on March 25, and on March 28 clinched the division title. The Jazz fared poorly in the last few weeks of the regular season and finished with 51–31 record, good for sixth overall in the league (behind the Dallas Mavericks, Phoenix Suns, San Antonio Spurs, Detroit Pistons, and Houston Rockets). It was their best record in 6 seasons.

Utah unveiled a new baby blue alternate jersey against the Phoenix Suns on November 18, 2006 that features the lettering "Jazz" from their team logo on the front and "Utah" in uppercase block letters on both sides of the uniform's shorts.

The Jazz will get their own D-League team at the beginning of the 2007-08 season, the Utah Flash, based in Orem.

2007 playoffs

Their opponent in the first round of the NBA playoffs was the Houston Rockets, who had finished one game ahead of the Jazz in the competition for home court advantage in the series. The Jazz lost the first two games in the series but were able to force a seventh game. The first six games of the series were all won by the home team; Utah broke this trend in the seventh game by beating the Rockets in Houston 103–99.

The Jazz next faced the eighth-seeded Golden State Warriors in the 2nd round. The Warriors, who had qualified for the playoffs on the last day of the regular season, had defeated the top-seeded (with an NBA-best 67-15 regular-season record) Dallas Mavericks in the previous series. The Jazz eliminated the Warriors in five games to advance to the Western Conference finals for the first time since 1998.

They then met the San Antonio Spurs, who had eliminated the Phoenix Suns. The Spurs won the series (eliminating the Jazz from the playoffs) in five games.

Rivals

Over its 28 years in Utah, the Jazz have had many rivals. During the 1990s, Utah and the Houston Rockets became heated conference rivals, often meeting in the NBA Playoffs. And though early in the 90s the Rockets had Utah's number during postseason play, in 1997 the Jazz finally defeated the Rockets in the Western Conference Finals, advancing to the team's first ever NBA Finals. The victory came after John Stockton hit a game winning three as time expired. In 1998, the Jazz and Rockets again would meet, this time in the first round. Utah entered that series tied with the best record in the NBA, held the #1 seed and promptly lost game one to the Rockets. After rallying back and winning game two, the Jazz would then go on to lose game three in Houston. Facing elimination — and the possibility of becoming only the second #1 seed in NBA history to lose to an 8th seed — the Jazz beat Houston and sent the series back to Utah for a definitive game five. The Jazz would easily defeat the Rockets in that game, advancing to the second round.

Though there is some semblance of a rivalry between the two teams today, it had died down over the years. After 1998, the Jazz and Rockets would not meet again in the NBA Playoffs until 2007, where it was revived by a near epic 7 game series. The Jazz fell down 0-2 to the Rockets and stormed back to win 4 of the final 5 playoff games, including the decisive game 7 in Houston. The playoff series victory was the Jazz's third consecutive over the Rockets, who haven't won a playoff series in 10 years. The rivalry also lost some of its luster when the NBA decided to revamp its divisional standings. In the old Western Conference, Utah and Houston were divisional foes, however the Jazz have since relocated to the Northwest Division, while Houston is now in the Southwest Division. During the 1990s the Jazz also became heated rivals with the Lakers and Bulls, often battling them in important regular season and playoff games. Most recently the Jazz have sparked up a rivalry with the nearby Denver Nuggets.

Season-by-season records

Season	W	L	%	Playoffs	Results
New Orleans Jazz
1990-91	54	28	.659	Won First Round Lost Conference Semifinals	Utah 3, Phoenix 1 Portland 4, Utah 1
1991-92	55	27	.671	Won First Round Won Conference Semifinals Lost Conference Finals	Utah 3, L.A. Clippers 2 Utah 4, Seattle 1 Portland 4, Utah 2
1992-93	47	35	.573	Lost First Round	Seattle 3, Utah 2
1993-94	53	29	.646	Won First Round Won Conference Semifinals Lost Conference Finals	Utah 3, San Antonio 1 Utah 4, Denver 3 Houston 4, Utah 1
1994-95	60	22	.732	Lost First Round	Houston 3, Utah 2
1995-96	55	27	.671	Won First Round Won Conference Semifinals Lost Conference Finals	Utah 3, Portland 2 Utah 4, San Antonio 2 Seattle 4, Utah 3
1996-97	64	18	.780	Won First Round Won Conference Semifinals Won Conference Finals Lost NBA Finals	Utah 3, L.A. Clippers 0 Utah 4, L.A. Lakers 1 Utah 4, Houston 2 Chicago 4, Utah 2
1997-98	62	20	.756	Won First Round Won Conference Semifinals Won Conference Finals Lost NBA Finals	Utah 3, Houston 2 Utah 4, San Antonio 1 Utah 4, L.A. Lakers 0 Chicago 4, Utah 2
1998-99	37	13	.740	Won First Round Lost Conference Semifinals	Utah 3, Sacramento 2 Portland 4, Utah 2
1999-2000	55	27	.671	Won First Round Lost Conference Semifinals	Utah 3, Seattle 2 Portland 4, Utah 1
2000-01	53	29	.646	Lost First Round	Dallas 3, Utah 2
2001-02	44	38	.537	Lost First Round	Sacramento 3, Utah 1
2002-03	47	35	.573	Lost First Round	Sacramento 4, Utah 1
2003-04	42	40	.512
2004-05	26	56	.317
2005-06	41	41	.500
2006-07	51	31	.617	Won First Round Won Conference Semifinals Lost Conference Finals	Utah 4, Houston 3 Utah 4, Golden State 1 San Antonio 4, Utah 1
Totals	1439	1235	.538
Playoffs	103	107	.490

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