Utah Jazz & Houston Rockets
As I alluded to previously, the Houston Rockets were Utah’s opponent the last time they played on Christmas Day nearly 20 years ago and it was a good one. In a game that featured the likes of John Stockton, Karl Malone and Jeff Hornacek against Clyde Drexler and Charles Barkley, the Rockets got off to a fast start, but the Jazz outscored them by 10 points in the middle two quarters to pull out a four-point victory in the end.
Stockton scored 24 points while Malone and Hornacek each added 20. Ah, those were the days.
But enough of the reminiscing, the Jazz and Rockets have had a lot of history with one another, from the Stockton-Malone days to the battles in the Western Conference playoffs between D-Will and Co. against Tracy McGrady’s Houston team to last year’s hotly contested games and a neck-and-neck playoff race which eventually saw Utah fall one game short.
Really wish Rockets, Raps, Charlotte, and Jazz were playing on Christmas tomorrow
— kev (@kevkashi_) December 24, 2016
Yes, these two teams have certainly been at each other for years. There’s even a Wikipedia page entitled Jazz-Rockets rivalry. If that doesn’t make things real, I don’t know what would.
And both this year and last, the games between Utah and Houston have been some of the most exciting of the season. In four games last season, three of them were decided by three points or less with one going to overtime. With both of these teams grappling for a playoff spot, each time they took the court it felt like a playoff game in and of itself.
So far this year the games haven’t been quite as tightly contested as the home team has come away with a relatively easy victory in both games, but history suggests that these two teams would provide a great match-up for basketball fans on the NBA’s marquee day.
Plus besides, this time around both the Jazz and Rockets are in the thick of the Western Conference standings, so this game would certainly hold a lot more meaning than it might have in recent years.
So this is my top Utah Jazz-featuring option that could have easily replaced one of the 2016 Christmas Day doozies such as the Spurs vs. Bulls game that really wasn’t that close of a contest or ever that intriguing of a match-up.