Jazz shootaround: Favors draws comparison to Malone, but can he deliver for playoff-hunting Jazz?

It was a comparison that probably borders on sacrilege around these parts. Asked about Derrick Favors last week in Toronto, Raptors coach Dwane Casey invoked the name of another Utah Jazz power forward.
"I’ll tell you what, he reminds me so much—his game is so much like [Karl] Malone," Casey said. "It’s amazing. His body size. He’s not at Malone’s level yet. But his body size is that prototypical Utah power forward type player. Great hands. Excellent midrange shooter. Great feel for rebounding. He’s that prototypical, physical, nasty, hard-playing, athletic power forward that Utah seems like they come out of the woodwork with."
Favors is a terrific young player and one of the league’s more under appreciated talents, but even he shied away from the comparison when told about it.
"I appreciate the compliment," he said. "I got a lot of work to do before I can be Karl Malone, man. I’ve got a lot of work to do."
If Favors has any Mailman in him, however, now would be a good time to show it.
The Jazz enter tonight’s matchup with the Atlanta Hawks sitting in ninth place in the West, a game and a half back of eighth-place Houston. With only 20 games left on their schedule, every matchup is important and winning at home is crucially so.
Right now, the postseason is still within reach. Take a quick look at the playoff probabilities for the West’s six, seven and eight seeds:

538.com
Rockets: 80%
Mavericks: 63%
Jazz: 56%

Basketball-Reference.com
Mavericks: 78.6%
Rockets: 69.3%
Jazz: 55.7%

ESPN
Rockets: 84.1%
Mavericks: 70.7%
Jazz: 52%

The Jazz have suddenly become coy when asked about the postseason. "I don’t try to pay too much attention it," Favors said after shootaround this morning. "I just try to go out there and contribute the best way that I can to get a win." But despite their recent five-game losing streak, snapped on Saturday behind a monster performance from Favors, Utah remains in the hunt. The Rockets are within reach, especially if the Jazz can win at Houston later this month. Also keep an eye on Dallas. The Mavericks are losers of three straight and face a brutal stretch over their next eight games. If they tailspin, things could be very interesting.
But the Jazz have to take care of their own business, too. Five-game losing streaks and winning three times in 10 games isn’t going to cut it.
This week the Jazz face the seemingly impossible task of trying to win at Golden State. They also host the Wizards on Friday and visit Sacramento on Sunday, a pair of winnable games. Beating back the red-hot Hawks tonight could really help build up some momentum to kick off an important week for the Jazz.
Utah won at Atlanta earlier this year, but the Hawks were without speedy point guard Jeff Teague to help break down the defense and attack the rim. The Jazz, meanwhile, won’t have guard Alec Burks, who was tremendous in Atlanta. (Coach Quin Snyder said today that Burks could still be a week or two away from returning from his fractured ankle.)
But the Jazz will still have Gordon Hayward. They’ll still have Favors.
Those two sparked the Jazz to victory in New Orleans on Saturday. Favors, in particular, was terrific. He finished with 28 points, 11 rebounds and six blocks.
"It’s consistency," Snyder said of Favors’ next step. "He’s capable of doing it. He needs to keep demanding it of himself and we’ll keep demanding it of him."
Favors knows demanding. He’s worked out with Malone in the past and Favors said he tried to pick up on the way Malone combined power in the paint and finesse in the midrange. Now, facing the most important stretch of games in his career, Favors said he doesn’t feeling any extra pressure.
"I put the work in, I put the time in. It’s all about just going out on the court and doing it," he said.
His team needs that from him. If the Jazz are going to make the playoffs, they’ll need the best from their best players. In other words, Favors will have to deliver.