The Utah Jazz are the best team in basketball right now.

Utah has won 16 of its last 17 games, including five in a row after Tuesday's win over the Boston Celtics. The Jazz rank second in the NBA in net rating, including fourth in both offensive and defensive rating. Quin Snyder's group is one of the most well-balanced teams in the league, and the stat sheet shows as much.

The Jazz have six different players in double figures for scoring, led by All-Star shooting guard Donovan Mitchell at 24.0 points per game. Jordan Clarkson provides bench scoring at 17.4 points per game, and Rudy Gobert is staking a claim for his third Defensive Player of the Year Award.

As phenomenal as the Jazz have been, however, it is fair to wonder whether they can beat the other top dogs in the Western Conference come playoff time.

Can Utah really challenge the likes of the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers, or is this train destined to go off the rails?

Sniping from deep

The most evident sign the Jazz are legitimate contenders is their success from beyond the three-point arc.

Perimeter shooting has been at a premium in the first couple months of the 2020-21 season, and Utah has excelled at creating open looks. The Jazz rank second in three-point attempts and first in threes made, also ranking second in the NBA at 40.2 percent from deep.

Utah's roster is full of guys who can fill it up from behind the arc. Mitchell is shooting close to 42 percent from beyond the arc on 8.6 attempts per game. Both Mike Conley and Bojan Bogdanovic are shooting over 41 percent on 6.8 attempts per game.

The forwards are playing their roles as stretch-4s to perfection. Joe Ingles is shooting nearly 43 percent from beyond the arc, and is also one of Utah's best playmakers (4.6 assists) as an undersized forward. Royce O'Neal is not relied upon to score but is still converting on over 45 percent of his threes per contest.

Guys like Mitchell, Clarkson and Conley can take defenders off the bounce and get to the cup. The Jazz can run pick-and-roll with any of those guys and Gobert diving to the rim or O'Neal popping for an open jumper. But most importantly, the floor is surrounded by shooters.

Opponents have to respect Utah's dribble-drive because of how the Jazz can fill it up from beyond the arc. There is every reason to believe the Jazz will continue to rack up wins if they space the floor and make teams pay from deep.

Still, there are reasons to believe Utah would struggle with both L.A. teams.

Clippers can fill it up, too

Remember how we established the Jazz rank second in three-point percentage? Well, the Clippers rank first in that department.

It should be pointed out L.A. is 15th in attempts, and the Jazz have fired nearly 200 more threes than the Clippers. Still, L.A.'s efficiency is far from meaningless.

Much like the Jazz, the Clippers boast forwards who can fill the stretch role and shoot the ball at a strong clip. Nicolas Batum is shooting 46 percent from deep on 4.8 attempts per game, and Serge Ibaka is shooting close to 40 percent on nearly three attempts per contest.

Patrick Beverley is having a career year from beyond the arc, and guys like Marcus Morris and Luke Kennard are floor-spacers off the bench.

Here's where the Clippers could ultimately have an edge: Kawhi Leonard and Paul George are two of the best shot-creators in the league.

Both Leonard and George can get to their spots with ease. They pull up for transition threes and get all the way to the cup for layups and dunks.

Leonard ascends to another level come playoff time, though he experienced a forgettable second half in Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals against the Denver Nuggets. Of course, his struggles were nothing compared to George's playoff performance.

If George can more closely resemble the man who took on the moniker of “Playoff P,” the Clippers are especially dangerous. They have all the more spacing for Kawhi and George to operate, and it would be a whole lot easier for L.A. to isolate Mitchell as a shot-creator than it would be for Utah to take both Leonard and George out of the game.

It should also be said Leonard and George are two of the best wing defenders in the game, which would only figure to make things tougher on the Jazz.

What about the Lakers?

The Lakers still seem like the most dangerous team in basketball, especially because Anthony Davis has yet to really take on greater usage.

Let's not “talk radio” this to death, because Davis has still had an excellent season. He is averaging 22.3 points per game on 53 percent shooting from the field, excelling especially in the midrange. ‘The Brow” has also played typically excellent defense, racking up 1.9 blocks and 1.4 steals.

But Davis' usage rate is the lowest since his sophomore year, and he has perhaps not been quite as assertive as he should be going forward.

With LeBron James having an MVP-caliber season and shooting close to 40 percent from deep on 6.8 attempts per game, the Lakers only stand to be more dangerous if Davis takes on more of the offensive onus and imposes his will.

That's not the real reason the Lakers are a bigger danger to the Jazz, though. Rather, it is because the Purple and Gold rank first in defensive rating.

Los Angeles runs opponents off the three-point line and into the lane, where both Davis and Marc Gasol await inside. The Lakers have conceded the least amount of triples this season, and they are every bit as strong as defending against twos. Not to mention, Frank Vogel's team is restricting opponents to the least amount of free-throw attempts per game.

The Lakers rebound and share the ball, ranking 12th in assists. Like the Jazz, they have exceptional balance.

But again, another key difference is James and Davis are two elite shot-creators, whereas Mitchell truly is the only guy of that caliber for Utah.

The skinny

The Jazz deserve a ton of respect. Utah ranks 12th in strength of schedule thus far, whereas the Lakers (24th) and Clippers (25th) have had friendlier slates in the early going.

But the court shrinks come playoff time, and it can truly become about who can go and get a bucket or come up with big stops. Plus, the team with multiple superstars usually wins out. No disrespect to Rudy Gobert, who deserves superstar status. But he is not exactly a shot-creator.

Utah is a dangerous team. But the Jazz might still be a notch below the Lakers and Clippers.