Why Game 3 Matters

Hey, you doing anything tonight? The Utah Jazz are hosting their first home playoff game since 2010 and this is the one the team really needs the fans to bring it. It’s Saturday night, instead of watching the game at home, go buy tickets. Come join me in the upper bowl, even up there the view is fine. What else do you have to do at 8 PM?

Why does Game 3 matter? I’m not going to sugar coat it and pretend that the Jazz have a realistic shot of winning this series. It’s not going to happen. I know it, you know it, the media knows it, and the looks on their faces in Game 2 tells me that the players know it it too. That last game was brutal to watch, if there was any doubt that the San Antonio Spurs are a superior team to the Utah Jazz then that game more than cleared things up. Despite that, Game 3 matters.

Does it matter from a series standpoint? Sure it does. If the Jazz manage to win this one then they’re back in the series but that’s not my real argument here. I would be thrilled if the Jazz can win one or both of these next two games but what the team needs is to really see what playoff basketball is like. Getting blown out in San Antonio is not the ideal learning experience for our young guys. To make this trip to the playoffs really worth it, the players need to see what a playoff game is really like in Salt Lake City.

The penultimate regular season game vs Phoenix was just a taste of what Jazz Nation is capable of. Our team got blasted in San Antonio and they need us more than ever to come out to ESA and show our support. I’m taking my nephew to the game as part of my gradual plan to indoctrinate him into Jazz Nation. So far it’s going beautifully. He’s only 9 but Hayward is his guy, he gets wrapped up in the game, and he hates the Lakers. Experiencing a playoff game in one of the loudest arenas in the NBA should help seal the deal and I need your help, though not as much as the Jazz players need it.

Game 3 matters because our players need to see what it’s really like to be in the playoffs. What it feels like to have the raucous crowd raise their game and lift them to another level. Coming home should help all those missed shots from games 1 and 2 find the basket. They will play better, I would bet money on it if gambling were legal here. I’d even be tempted to bet on them winning this one. We’ve been hearing a great deal about how this playoff trip is really building for the future. The theory is to give the guys some experience now so they’ll learn from it and improve in the years to come, as teams such as Oklahoma City and Memphis have done. So forget about Utah being down 0-2. Forget about the margins of victory. The Spurs protected their home court, as they were supposed to. I really want to see a sellout crowd tonight. I’m not being paid by the organization, I’m just a passionate fan. So tonight, come join me at ESA. I’ll be in the corner of the upper bowl in my Millsap jersey with a lil’ Hayward cheering for our team. Now’s not the time to abandon ship as a fan, see it through and help the Jazz protect their house.