Does the regular season matter for the Utah Jazz’s playoff aspirations?

Utah Jazz ahead Royce O’Neale, heart, pats guard Donovan Mitchell, proper, on the top as guard Mike Conley walks away within the closing minutes of Sport 6 of a second-round NBA basketball playoff collection towards the Los Angeles Clippers Friday, June 18, 2021, in Los Angeles.

Mark J. Terrill, Related Press

Ever for the reason that Utah Jazz misplaced within the second spherical of the playoffs final June after ending the common season with the NBA’s greatest report, a typical thought amongst Jazz followers has been that it doesn’t matter the place the staff finishes within the standings this season so long as they make the postseason and get good matchups.

However because the Jazz have misplaced 9 of their 13 video games up to now this month and stumbled to fourth place within the NBA’s Western Convention, how a lot has the place a staff is seeded for the playoffs mattered with regards to making a run to the NBA Finals?

Clearly the upper a staff is seeded, the better the trail to the Finals will theoretically be, however the numbers are nonetheless considerably staggering so far as how exhausting it turns into to get there the decrease the seed a staff is.

Since 1983 when the playoff area expanded to its present variety of 16 groups, there have been 12 situations (out of 39) of the highest seed in each the Jap and Western conferences making the Finals (though, maybe apparently, solely twice since 2000).

Of the 54 collaborating Finals groups over the remaining 27 years, 18 have been No. 1 seeds. That signifies that since 1983, 42 of the 78 groups (just below 54%) within the Finals have been No. 1 seeds.

Of the remaining 36 groups which have competed within the Finals since 1983, 22 have been No. 2 seeds, eight have been No. 3 seeds and three have been No. 4 seeds (all the 4 seeds have been since 2006 — the Dallas Mavericks that yr, the Boston Celtics in 2010 and the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2018. None of them received the title).

That signifies that simply three groups since 1983 have made the Finals as decrease than a 4 seed. They have been the sixth-seeded 1995 Houston Rockets (they beat the Jazz within the first spherical), the eighth-seeded 1999 New York Knicks and the fifth-seeded 2020 Miami Warmth (that was within the bubble in Orlando).

In different phrases, because the standings are proper now, it wouldn’t be a primary if the Jazz made the Finals this season, however historical past will not be on their aspect.

It needs to be famous that it has turn into way more widespread for the decrease seeds to make the Finals during the last 20 years than it beforehand was, however nonetheless a way more troublesome job than for increased seeds.

All of that is to say that a lot of the Jazz’s success or lack thereof within the playoffs this season will nonetheless probably come right down to who they’re matched up towards, however historical past will not be very a lot on their aspect in the event that they end the common season in the midst of the Western Convention like they’re at the moment on observe to do.