Utah Jazz vs New York Knicks: Overtone

Let's be 100% honest with ourselves Utah Jazz fans......this game, while not entirely meaningless, is overshadowed by the "#Jazzreunited" event tonight. Do the Jazz need a win desperately? Yes. Would the actual game be a little bit more intriguing if it were against a little bit more worthy opponent? For sure. While these two teams don't have a ton of memorable history or bad blood, it's always kind of interesting and fun when the big city New York Knicks come town. If it weren't for Carmelo Anthony, Derrick Rose and the media circus of New York coming to SLC there is really nothing intriguing about this specific game (other than it being pivotal for the Jazz to get back on the right track).

I almost feel bad for the Knicks and their fans because they had somewhat high hopes for this season and it just hasn't panned out. They are also walking into what will be a very emotionally charged and hopefully loud crowd tonight. I personally wish I could be there because I think the celebration of the team from 20 years ago is going to be special and is going to make this game, along with a Jazz win, a memorable one.

I have gotten to the point where I just assume that the Jazz are going to win tonight, but I hope that festivities aren't a distraction to the point where they hurt the team. I also think it's dangerous to just assume that the Jazz will win as we have seen them lay some eggs against teams they should beat this year. But in the overall context of things I think this team has gotten better at realizing the importance of certain games and they have become more and more mentally tough as the season has passed. I expect the team to come out and crush any hope for the Knicks early on maybe coast on home in the second half after all the emotion and energy are spent. The Jazz have to be wary though, because even though it is the Knicks and they are not very good this year their bench has been playing better as of late and I could see Jeff Hornacek coaching them up for this game.

Time will tell, but I for one am banking on a Jazz win and am excited for them to get back in the drivers seat to go and get that #4 seed. Just to get you all nostalgic about tonight and the days when the Jazz only had to worry about the #1 seed:

GO JAZZ GO!