The Utah faithful are in for a happy holiday this winter as the Utah Jazz will be playing in the NBA’s slate of Christmas Day games.
Utah Jazz fans have often complained about being overlooked by the national media and being largely forgotten by the general public. However, thanks to two consecutive impressive seasons and even more because of the enormous popularity of Donovan Mitchell, the Jazz are starting to slowly but surely burst onto the scene.
When it was announced on Tuesday that the NBA would reveal its national TV schedule for the first week of the regular season, Christmas and MLK Day on Wednesday, Jazz fans were hopeful that they’d see their team scheduled for one of those big-time dates, but likely approached it with a cautious optimism.
Well, several games still have yet to be revealed of those three groups of games, but one thing is now for certain. It will be a Merry Christmas for the Utah Jazz as they’ll officially play in their first Christmas Day game since 1997. Not only will they play, but they’ll also host.
According to Chris Haynes of ESPN, the Jazz will take on the Portland Trail Blazers within the friendly confines of Vivint Smart Home Arena this Christmas.
Portland Trail Blazers will face the Utah Jazz on the road in one of the five Christmas Day games, league sources tell ESPN.
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) August 8, 2018
‘Jinglin’ Joe’ Ingles is about to take on a whole new meaning as Joe Ingles and the rest of his Jazz teammates look to Jingle away Damian Lillard and the Blazers. Not only should this feature a sweet matchup between prolific guards Lillard and Donovan Mitchell, but it could also be an important game with future playoff implications for the pair of division rivals.
But more importantly, this is a big deal for the Utah Jazz, who against the odds find themselves playing on one of the most marquee nationally televised stages in the NBA. The Jazz are clearly turning heads and have earned the praise and respect of opponents, the media and the league as a whole.
Christmas Day games are typically reserved for big-market teams such as the New York Knicks or Los Angeles Lakers (who both also happen to be playing), so to see a matchup between two small market playoff hopefuls in Utah and Portland, who have been sensational and out-performed expectations in recent years, is a refreshing and exciting change of pace.
The other games that have been announced thus far as of this writing can be viewed in the tweet below from Marc Stein.
A vintage dose of Celtics/Sixers, Giannis and the Bucks at MSG against the Knicks and (you guessed it) LeBron's Lakers in Oakland to face the Warriors are the highlights of the NBA's Christmas Day schedule that will be announced Wednesday afternoon, league sources tell @NYTSports
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) August 8, 2018
Personally, I would have liked to see Jazz-Sixers on Christmas so Rookie of the Year winner and runner-up, Ben Simmons and Donovan Mitchell, respectively, could have gone head-to-head for the holidays, but I’m not about to get picky. The Jazz are playing on one of the biggest days of basketball of the year. And that’s awesome news.
I definitely know what’s going on my Christmas list this year! And I’ll undoubtedly be singing ‘Jingles Bells, Jingles Bells, Jingles all the way’ all day long!