Will the Jazz ‘March’ into the playoffs?

I work with some pretty great people who are talented, curious, hard-working and, well, kinda nuts. Trevor Phibbs is one of those, especially when it comes to the talented and hard-working part.

This email he sent me and the information he put together shows that he’s also kinda nuts and very curious, qualities I can certainly appreciate. (Click here for high quality Utah Blaze and high school coverage from Trevor.)

March is a few days in the rear-view mirror, but the Jazz’s 11-8 month simply can’t be dismissed, according to history.

From Trevor:

It seems like Utah always puts together a streak of games either starting in March or late February. So, I went back to see if my memory was playing tricks on me and looked at the season-by-season game log. I put a long list of statistics together and according to history the Jazz should clinch a playoff berth if they continue playing well for the remainder of this month. Anyway, I thought it was pretty interesting and I don’t know if you’d like to use the information to write a story or not, but I’m sure you could make a fun story out of it.

18 Utah Jazz Seasons (1994-11)
Total March record: 181-101 (64%)
Total percentage of March wins: 21% (181-857 wins)
Number of seasons that March contributed at least 20% of wins: 13(14) out of 18. Three out of four seasons under 20% Utah didn’t qualify for the playoffs and every single year that Utah exceeded 20% wins in March, it qualified for postseason play.
Streak of 5 games: 11
Streak of 6 games: 9
Streak of 7 games: 6
Streak of 9 games: 5
Streak of 11 games: 3
Streak of 12 games: 2
Streak of 15 games: 1

1994:
March record: 12-4
Longest win streak: 7 (9 game streak Feb. 26-March 14)
Season record: 60-22/ WC First
March percentage of wins: 20% / 23% with entire streak included

1995:
March record: 12-4
Longest win streak: 6 (7 game streak Feb. 26-March 10)
Season record: 55-27/ WC Finals
March percentage of wins: 22% / 24% with entire streak included

1996:
March record: 14-1
Longest win streak: 9 (Streak carried until April, ended at 15/ March 12-April 11)
Season record: 64-18/ NBA Finals
March percentage of wins: 22% / 31% with entire streak included

1997:
March record: 15-2
Longest win streak: 10 (11 games with addition of game played on Feb. 26)
Season record: 62-20/ NBA Finals
March percentage of wins: 24% / 26% with entire streak included

1998:
March record: 10-6
Longest win streak: 6
Season record: 37-13/ WC Semi
March percentage of wins: 27%

1999:
March record: 14-2
Longest win streak: 8 (9 games with addition of game played on Feb. 28)
Season record: 55-27/ WC Semi
March percentage of wins: 25% / 27% with entire streak included

2000:
March record: 9-7
Longest win streak: 4
Season record: 53-29/ WC First
March percentage of wins: 17%

2001:
March record: 9-7
Longest win streak: 3
Season record: 44-38/ WC First
March percentage of wins: 20%

2002:
March record: 10-6
Longest win streak: 6
Season record: 47-35/ WC First
March percentage of wins: 21%

2003:
March record: 9-6
Longest win streak: 3
Season record: 42-40
March percentage of wins: 21%

2004:
March record: 3-12
Longest win streak: 1
Season record: 26-56
March percentage of wins: 11%

2005:
March record: 7-9
Longest win streak: 2
Season record: 41-41
March percentage of wins: 17%

2006:
March record: 9-6
Longest win streak: 5 (6 games with addition of game played on Feb. 26)
Season record: 51-31/ WC Finals
March percentage of wins: 18% / 20% with entire streak included.

2007:
March record: 12-4
Longest win streak: 5
Season record: 54-28 / WC Semi
March percentage of wins: 22%

2008:
March record: 10-5
Longest win streak: 5 (12 game streak Feb. 11- March 10)
Season record: 48-34 / WC First
March percentage of wins: 21%/ 35% with entire streak included

2009:
March record: 12-5
Longest win streak: 4
Season record: 53-29/ WC Semi
March percentage of wins: 23%

2010:
March record: 4-10
Longest win streak: 2
Season record: 39-43
March percentage of wins: 10%

2011:
March record: 10-5 so far
Longest win streak: 6
Season record: 26-23
March percentage of wins: 38%