Utah Jazz’s second-round schedule against Clippers will keep the games tight

The idea was that the first-round series between the Clippers and Mavericks going a full seven games would be good for the Utah Jazz.

Some extra days of rest, some additional time for All-Star point guard Mike Conley to rest his balky right hamstring. All good, right?

Turns out there was something of a downside, though: A condensed second-round schedule.

As a result of Clippers-Mavs going seven games, the collateral damage is that there won’t be any additional rest days built into their Western Conference semifinal schedule. Game 1 tips off Tuesday night at Vivint Arena, and the teams will play every other day thereafter, potentially all the way through an as-needed Game 7 on Sunday, June 20.

It’ll be a bit different than Utah’s opening-round series against Memphis, where there were two off days in between Games 1 and 2, and two more off days between Games 2 and 3.

Then again, the existing schedule didn’t wind up dramatically different from what the Jazz would have been facing if the Mavericks had simply closed things out in Game 6 when they had the chance. Jazz-Mavs would have started Sunday, Game 2 would have been Tuesday, and then there would have been a bizarre three days off before Game 3 would have been played this coming Saturday. Every game thereafter would have been on the same every-other-day format.

As it is, the Jazz simply swapped out that mid-series break for some time off in advance — a trade that perhaps ought to give Conley a chance to be ready to go from the outset, and also one which some make them well-rested, while also taking a break away from the theoretically-weary Clippers.

The Jazz certainly found the five days off between their closeout Game 5 against the Grizzlies and their opener vs. the Clippers useful.

“Well, I was born in 1987, so a few extra days for me is extremely nice,” Joe Ingles joked on Saturday. “Obviously, it is what it is. If Dallas won [Friday], we’d [have] played on Sunday. We’ve got to figure it out and get ready as best we can. But obviously it’s out of our control and out of our hands. So, yeah, I’ll take an extra couple of days. If anything, it gives us a couple more days to recover, get as healthy as we can, shoot the ball more, work on some things as a team.”