Utah Jazz Have One Last Chance at Fourth Seed in the West

It may be a minuscule chance, but ending the season with the fourth seed in the West is still in play for the Utah Jazz.

There’s a lot of ways that NBA fans could discount the Utah Jazz’s win over the Golden State Warriors last night. Klay Thompson was resting, Steph, KD and Draymond hardly saw the floor in the second half, Golden State already clinched the number one seed and didn’t have a lot at stake, etcetera, etcetera.

However, even though there is some legitimacy behind each of those arguments, the fact that Utah was down three starters – Gordon Hayward, Rodney Hood and Derrick Favors – themselves while Curry, Durant and Green all played about 30 minutes (29, 32 and 24, respectively, to be exact) this was still an impressive road win.

Was it a statement win that proves the Jazz can down the Warriors in a seven-game series? Probably not. With so many odd factors and missing players, it’s really hard to get a feel for how these two teams would actually fare against one another in the playoffs. But one thing is for certain, a win in Oracle is a win in Oracle, and downing Golden State last night, if nothing else, should give Utah a significant boost of confidence moving forward.

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However, with a tough first-round match-up against the Los Angeles Clippers looming, I’m most certainly getting ahead of myself. For the time being, Utah’s sole focus needs to be on LA. And thanks to the surprising victory last night over the Warriors, Utah kept their hopes alive of earning a key advantage over the Clippers, namely home court advantage.

It’s still a long shot, but if Utah is able to defeat the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday and if the Sacramento Kings can beat the Clippers in LA, then Utah will earn the fourth seed and the coveted home court advantage that goes with it.

I know, you’re probably thinking, “It ain’t gonna happen.” Well, you’re more than likely right, but there are at least a few reassuring signs that provide a glimmer of hope for those eternal optimists out there.

First off, looking at the Jazz, they’re coming off that confidence-boosting win over the Warriors and will get to take on the Spurs within the friendly confines of Vivint Smart Home Arena. Although it’s no secret that San Antonio has had their way with the Jazz in recent years, that gap has definitely lessened this season.

Utah won the first contest between the two teams in early November and in the most recent contest in San Antonio, the Jazz were a few better-executed plays away from securing a second victory. Don’t get me wrong, the Spurs are still the better team at this point, but Utah is definitely much more confident against them and much more able to compete than in years past.

Not to mention, the Spurs have clinched the two-seed with no chance of rising or falling and thus will have nothing to play for. The Jazz, on the other hand, may have home court advantage on the line and should benefit from heightened motivation.

Plus there always seems to be a little extra emotion at the final home game of the regular season (just ask Kobe Bryant and last year’s Lakers squad), so the Jazz could benefit from an emotional boost as they look to earn a regular season win for the last time this season in front of their home fans.

Unfortunately, as I mentioned, beating San Antonio is only half the battle. The Jazz will need some help from a less than daunting Kings team if they are to end up clinching the fourth seed. What’s worse is that the Clippers-Kings game starts an hour and a half after the Jazz-Spurs game, meaning Utah won’t know whether or not their game had any significance until after the fact.

Thus the Jazz will simply have to take care of business against the Spurs then hope that the Kings can do them a solid. The one bright point is that the Kings did actually defeat the Clippers in the two teams’ latest contest as LA had one of the biggest late-game collapses of the season that saw them blow an 18-point lead with less than six minutes left in the game.

While of course it seems unlikely that such will happen again, the fact of the matter is that any team can surprise you on any given night in the NBA and perhaps Wednesday’s night will be the Kings’ night once again. A team with absolutely nothing to lose can certainly be a dangerous team and Utah will have to hope such is the case tomorrow.

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However, beyond that unlikely glimmer of hope, there aren’t a lot of reassuring signs that would indicate that LA is likely to lose. The Clippers have been red hot lately (which doesn’t bode well for the Jazz) as they’ve won six straight which has included wins over the Wizards, Spurs and Rockets. Meanwhile, Sacramento has lost eight of their last twelve and has most definitely accepted the fate of this being yet another lost season.

Furthermore, the game will be at the Staples Center, which does happen to be where Sacramento pulled off the incredible comeback win last time, but nevertheless being on the road makes the task of winning seem all that much more difficult.

Finally, ironically enough, last season Utah also needed the Kings to come through by defeating the Rockets in the final game of the year to keep the Jazz’s playoff chances alive. Instead, Sacramento rested several of their key guys and were flattened by the Rockets. While these are two entirely different situations, it just seems like the irony of the circumstances will prevail and once again Utah’s desperate faith in Sacramento will go unrewarded.

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• Former Utah Jazz forward Rudy Gay is a free agent still and it shouldn’t surprise anyone

Thus, in summary, a Jazz win and a Clippers loss is all it will take for Utah to earn the fourth seed, but unfortunately, while there are some reasons to be hopeful, there are certainly more reasons for doubt.

Of course earning the surprising win over the Warriors last night makes the recent loss to Portland, as well as several other winnable contests this season sting all that much more as one additional win could have made the difference between home court advantage and starting out the first round of the playoffs on the road.

Nevertheless, regardless of whether Utah has home court advantage or not, they’ll still be in for a tough series against the Clippers and the need to step up big time will be prevalent either way. If the Jazz are able to get healthy and play to their maximum potential, their depth combined with their lock-down defense may very well be enough to push them to victory whether the stars align and they earn home court advantage or not.

It’d be nice to see things fall into place for them on the final day of the regular season, but more than anything the Jazz will look to arrive to the postseason healthy and with the required confidence to steal a win or two on LA’s home court if necessary.