Utah Jazz vs Boston Celtics: Overtone

The Utah Jazz go up against the mighty Boston Celtics tonight! Okay, maybe they aren't so "mighty" in this day and age; but whenever we have a game against the Celtics, I can't help but think of the history and lore they are a part of. Never mind the history of the Jazz vs. Celtics, I could write a novel about just the Celtic pride that has been a staple of the NBA since it was created.......but I won't bore everyone with that right now. Let's stick to the match up at hand tonight.

Photo by Janet Knott/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

I was surprised to learn when looking at the historical games between these two teams, that there is not as big of a disparity as I would have guessed. The Celtics lead the all time series 54-38. That's still a pretty good sized gap, but it's not like the Jazz couldn't close the gap in say 8 years if they won both match-ups every year:)

In all seriousness though I love when the Jazz play Boston especially when they're in Boston. It seems like the games are always entertaining. The most recent that comes to mind was 2 years ago when, even though it was a loss, G-Time hit that tough shot with a few seconds to go and we all thought that it was going to be the game winner. My point is not to depress Jazz fans, but it seems like the games against the Celtics are always back and forth hard nose battles like that one. I can appreciate games like that even if we don't get the result that we want.

Of course we all appreciate and can look back fondly at the decade of the 90's when we finally were able to get a decent amount of wins against this team (and many others) and make this match-up somewhat less lopsided. As a side note and in a nod to the 90's one of my favorite "terrible" movies, that you watch anyway is Celtic Pride.

Photo by Tom Herde/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

Ed. This is one of the two promotional pictures from the movie “Celtic Pride” that I have the legal authority to use, lest I want Vox Media to get sued.

I'm still not sure why they chose the Jazz to be the evil, opposing team but it was released in 1996 so the Jazz were contenders at the time. You should check it out if you have a couple hours you don't mind throwing away. Anyway, I've rambled a lot so far but the last video I will leave you with is what got me thinking about the 90's in the first place. This is my favorite memory of the Jazz vs. Celtics, still remember it to this day even though I was only a young lad at the time:

Ed. Also, check out Greg Miller’s intense close-up in this video!

I think this is a year that the Jazz travel to the Garden and come away with a win. Even though the Celtics are respectable, I think the Jazz are clearly the superior team right now and Gordon Hayward is playing out of his mind. Just like anyone else would, he wants to play well in front of his former coach and show him up a bit. He and Derrick Favors both talked 2 years ago about how hard it was to walk out of that arena with a loss after they had battled so hard all game. And so with that in mind, here's to hoping that the Jazz can remain undefeated in 2017..........at least until the middle of June please!!