Jazz Face Their Biggest Rival Tonight

Posted by James Seaman on November 02, 2009

When Jerry Sloan’s players take the floor against the Houston Rockets tonight, the Jazz will extend their longest, most enduring rivalry.  Most Jazz fans—myself included—hate the Lakers with far more verve and vitriol than we expend in our dislike of the Rockets.  Currently, the Nuggets occupy more of our attention than those boys from Southeast Texas.  But taking the longer view, the Rockets easily rank as the Jazz’s most historic, bitter rival.

The two clubs have ended each other’s season seven times, including Utah’s recent pair of first round triumphs over Tracy McGrady’s crew.  The animosity stretches all the way back to the spring of 1985 when Hakeem Olajuwon punched Utah’s Billy “The Whopper” Paltz in the decisive fifth game of their opening round series.  The incident ignited the Jazz’s flame as they finished the game with a 23-12 flurry and eliminated the Rockets.  John Stockton, then a rookie, also had a lot to do with the victory as Frank Layden benched several starters—including Ricky Green—and allowed Stockton to take the reins.  The plucky Gonzaga grad sowed the first seeds of what would grow into a legendary career.

While Utah’s postseason advantage over Houston seems lopsided (5-2), the knockouts Houston dealt Jazz fans in 1994 and 1995 stung as badly as any.  The Rockets won it all both years, something Utahns have never experienced.  In either season, getting by Houston offered tantalizing possibilities, for while Michael Jordan languished with the Birmingham Barons, the path to the NBA Title suddenly became wide open.  When the Jazz finally turned the tables and eliminated Houston in 1997 and 1998, Jordan had returned to claim his throne.  Still, those late 90s clashes evoke powerful memories, not only because of Stockton’s immortal shot, but because the contests featured five future Hall of Famers (Malone, Stockton, Olajuwon, Barkley, and Drexler).

While the Jazz and Rockets didn’t collide last spring, Houston commanded (or certainly should have commanded) the respect of the Beehive State’s basketball aficionados.  Jazz fans could see in Houston what they usually see—or certainly want to see—in their own team:  toughness, heart, and a blue-collar attitude.  In the Western Conference’s second round, Houston did something Utah proved either unable or unwilling to do in the previous series—they spit in Kobe Bryant’s face and refused to back down.  The Rockets marched straight into the Staples Center and stole game one.  When Yao Ming went down with an injury, Houston responded by blowing the Lakers out in two of the next three matchups.  A collection of scrubs pushed the eventual champs to the limit.

Once again, Houston finds itself in the Western Conference mix, jumping out to a 2-1 start in 2009-10.  More likely than not, the Jazz will find themselves battling the Rockets for playoff positioning as the season unfolds.  Let’s hope the Jazz draw first blood in this season’s renewal of a classic rivalry.

3 Comments

Ben H on November 02, 2009 said:

Welp, Rockets 1, Jazz 0. Jazz forgot about the 4th quarter tonight. What a dissapointing game.
Hope we can take one back in Houston.

Jared on November 03, 2009 said:

What a joke of a game. When a team without its two best players, who had their third best player leave to free agency comes into you house and slaps you around like that IS EMBARASSING!. Where are all the people who think the Jazz are going to be the 3rd seed today? Boozer needs to be traded and Sloan needs to retire for us to have a chance.

Linda on November 03, 2009 said:

Can’t agree with the changes in players or coach but can agree that it was a game that was unbelievable! I kept wondering why we had wasted our time, effort, and gas (from Idaho) to see a team that can be great, look like they had no idea what basketball was all about. Even DWill was playing about 25%. Air balls and missed foul shots?!?! How many turn overs did he have? I really wanted to cry. I also wished I knew why the “kids” weren’t put in sooner? As I said before, being a former coaches wife, I wonder what had happened or didn’t happen that caused the coaches to not want to put them in? They certainly couldn’t have done worse. I think this year thre is some problem with ticket sales but a game like last night isn’t going to sell tickets !!

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