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Sven Karabegovic
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Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images
The Jazz’s final home game of the season!
The Utah Jazz (29-50) are hosting the Houston Rockets (39-49) in their final game of the season at the Delta Center. After shooting up in the standings due to a 10-game win-streak, the Rockets have fallen back down to earth, having gone 5-5 over their last 10 games. As they trail the 10th seeded Golden State Warriors by five games, their chances of clinching a post-season basketball are nearly zero at this point. As a result, both teams tonight are playing meaningless basketball, with the Jazz looking to continue their 10-game losing streak for draft positioning purposes.
Dating back to the beginning of the Quin Snyder era in 2014-15, the final home game of the season has typically coincided with some excitement for the future. Across these years, fans have looked forward to breaking into playoffs, rising youth development, or even title contention. Even during tumultuous moments, the final home game still offered excitement, even if it was feeble (looking at you, 2021-22 Season).
This season, however, the Jazz’s final game at the Delta Center feels like it brings a battle between melancholy fandom and logical reasoning. On one hand, watching Jazz basketball this season has been rough, no matter how you frame it. The basketball, regardless of how much you call it a product of the Jazz’s youth, has been disappointing and uninspiring. And feelings of pessimism shouldn’t be disregarded, as this is the first time since between 02-05 that the Jazz’s wining percentage has decreased three seasons in a row. That sucks, especially when you look at the weakness of the upcoming draft. So the fact that the Delta Center has sold out every night has nothing to do with the Jazz’s product, and everything with Utah’s love for their team and basketball.
On the other hand, looking at it logically, Utah’s future is bright. They have three rookies who have shown that they can be NBA-level players, a truck load of draft picks, and an All-Star in Lauri Markkanen. The Jazz have an off-season with plenty of cap space, the ability to gather more assets, and the opportunity to develop more youth. These are objectively good things! Still, all of these positives come with an equal amount of question marks, so sifting the good from the bad can be difficult.
Nonetheless, as a Jazz fan, watching basketball at home is always a positive. I just hope the product is a little more fun next season.
Game Info
When: April 11th - 7:00 PM MST
Where: Delta Center, Salt Lake City, UT
Watch/Stream at: KJZZ, Jazz+,
Listen at: SiriusXM KSL 97.5 FM
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