#4. Rematch Against Defending Champs
Tuesday, January 30 – Golden State Warriors at Utah Jazz
The Utah Jazz will have the unenviable task of facing the defending champion Golden State Warriors four times in 2017-18. First they’ll visit them in Oakland on October 27th on the second night of a back to back, then on January 30th in Salt Lake followed by a road game in Oracle on March 25th and a late-season bout in Utah on April 10th in the second to last game of the year.
While any one of these match-ups could be extremely intriguing, the one I’m most looking forward to is the one in late January. Not only will it be Golden State’s first visit to Vivint Smart Home Arena during the 2017-18 season, but the Jazz will also be going into the game with three full days of rest. They’ll certainly need it since that game is the lone home game in a stretch of seven of eight games on the road, and hopefully the extra time off will help give the Jazz an edge.
For several years, the Jazz have been pinned as a team that could potentially give the Warriors trouble and while in some ways they’ve served as an annoyance, they haven’t exactly been a threat. Their second round series last season didn’t prove to be any different as the Jazz were promptly swept by the Warriors. However, it should be noted that starting point guard George Hill played in just one game in the series while Derrick Favors and Rudy Gobert were far from full strength.
Therefore, it will be interesting to see if the Jazz can put the pieces together next year and perhaps get a small dose of revenge on the Warriors in this late January match-up. Utah’s defense only got more stifling this offseason, but they’ll be hard-pressed to find the necessary offensive firepower to down the Warriors. Nevertheless, this should be an exhilarating match-up between two teams that are all too familiar with one another following last year’s playoff series.
Not to mention, the Jazz will get to prove whether or not they can still provide some challenging mismatches for Golden State and the likely exciting contest will be an excellent measuring stick for where the Jazz stand in comparison to the league’s best.