Three Utah Jazz Christmas Day Match-Ups We’d Like to See

Utah Jazz & Golden State Warriors (In SLC Only)

I know what you’re thinking. The Cavs vs. Warriors game was the real treat of Christmas Day and just days before that contest, Utah was dismantled by the Warriors in embarrassing fashion. Nevertheless, if the defending conference champions hadn’t been matched up, it would have been hard to find a better match-up to intrigue fans than a game against the Warriors.

If it took place in Salt Lake City that is.

Since the 2014-15 season, the Jazz have been manhandled by the Warriors on the road, losing to them by an average of 19.4 points in five contests at Oracle Arena. However at home it’s been an entirely different story. In five games, the Jazz have only lost to the Warriors by an average of 3.6 points which included a win (in 2014-15), a miss at the buzzer and an overtime contest (both in 2015-16).

Thus while the Jazz have looked hapless at Golden State, they have challenged the Warriors in a big way within Vivint Smart Home Arena over the past couple years. And as the Warriors bandwagon keeps on rolling, more and more people are also jumping onto the anti-Warriors bandwagon as well and relish in every Golden State loss.

And what better way for them to celebrate Christmas than to watch a hotly contested match-up between the Warriors and the irritating underdog Jazz who have continued to give Golden State a run for their money in Salt Lake City. The Jazz probably wouldn’t win this contest (at least not this year) but it would still likely make for an exciting game.

And given that the Jazz were beat out for a Christmas Day game by two other small market teams in the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Minnesota Timberwolves who, by the way, gave us one of the least exciting match-ups of the day, I don’t have a hard time speculating that Jazz vs. Warriors in SLC would have been a bit more interesting.

I’m perfectly fine with OKC playing on Christmas, because Russell Westbrook has a knack of making any game exciting. However, given the fact that even prior to the season, it was quite apparent that Minnesota was still a couple years behind the Jazz in terms of development and progression, I’m disappointed that they would earn a Christmas Day bid based nearly entirely on unproven hype.

Of course the Jazz still have plenty to prove themselves, but if Minnesota can supposedly earn a selection, I’d like to think there’s no reason why Utah can’t be the next small market team to do so.

Particularly as they continue to improve, there’s no reason why this or any other match-up against the Jazz couldn’t provide a thrilling Christmas Day contest for fans everywhere.