Road woes? There’s no such thing for the streaking Jazz

The Utah Jazz have been the NBA’s best road team in the second half of the season.

That totally makes sense because they were the second-worst road team in the league during the first half of the season.

OK. That doesn’t make sense at all.

But this is who the Jazz have been since January: the team that doesn’t make sense. With Sunday’s 121-97 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Jazz are 25-5 in their last 30 games, second best in the NBA behind only the Houston Rockets. They are 44-33 overall and within a stone’s throw of garnering home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

How has this team become a juggernaut? Better yet, how has this team turned into the NBA’s best team away from home?

“Our concentration level is really high on the road,” Utah guard Donovan Mitchell said. “We’ve started to understand that we don’t have our fans to get us going when we’re on the road. So we’re just trying to get ourselves going, and we know that we have to do whatever it takes to win.”

Utah’s turnaround away from Vivint Smart Home Arena has been nothing short of remarkable. The Jazz have won 14 of their last 15 road games. Of those 14 wins, nine have come by double digits. Their only loss during that span was a 124-120 setback against the San Antonio Spurs, one of the best home teams in the league.

And the Jazz are beating direct playoff competitors. In addition to Sunday’s win over the Timberwolves, the Jazz have beaten the following on the road since January: Golden State Warriors, Spurs, Portland Trail Blazers, Toronto Raptors, New Orleans Pelicans and Indiana Pacers.

Utah’s ability to turn around its season away from home has turned around its entire season. The Jazz started the season 5-19 on the road, which was second worst in the league. Only the Atlanta Hawks, who were 4-19, were worse at the time.

The Jazz recently have played like a better team on the road than they have at home. Utah has struggled a bit in front of its home crowd, dropping two of its last four, including one to the Hawks. Then the Jazz struggled with the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday night before finally putting them away.

“We’ve become a team that likes to play on the road,” Jazz center Rudy Gobert said. “We have talented and experienced guys. We come out and we are ready to face adversity, and we are a team that’s been through a lot with each other. That helps a lot.”

The Jazz were able to face difficult stretches and not be fazed Sunday. Minnesota began the game on a 9-2 run thanks to making its first four shots. Target Center was rocking, and it seemed as if the Jazz were going to be in for a long night.

Then Utah coach Quin Snyder called timeout. The Jazz immediately scored the next five points and got back into the game. They took control early in the second quarter and cruised to the blowout win.

“It helps because we have guys who like to get out there and share the ball,” Utah forward Jonas Jerebko said. “We got a good rhythm going. We played great defensively.”

A motto for Utah is defense travels. And the Jazz are second in the league on the road, allowing 100 points per game. But they also have shot the ball well away from home. The Jazz shot 60 percent from the field in Minnesota, including Ricky Rubio going off from 3-point range. And Utah has been able to build on leads.

All of this bodes well for the Jazz in the playoffs, assuming they get there, which looks likely heading into Tuesday night’s matchup against the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Jazz likely will start the playoffs on the road, and that’s right where they want to be.

“We’ve learned how to play through adversity on the road,” Rubio said. “We know that we’re not going to get any favors on the road, so we have to play well. And that’s what’s helped us this season.”