Utah Jazz can clinch playoff berth with win over Los Angeles Lakers

The Utah Jazz can clinch a playoff berth and continue their pursuit for third place in the Western Conference with a win over the Los Angeles Lakers.

Regular season games don’t get much more important than this, folks. If the Utah Jazz manage a win over the Los Angeles Lakers in this afternoon’s showdown, they’ll clinch a playoff berth. If they win out in their final three games of the season, they’ll clinch the third seed in the West.

However, fail to do either of those and go winless in the final three games, and the Jazz could find themselves out of playoff qualification entirely. If that doesn’t perfectly describe how tightly contested the Western Conference playoff race has been this season, I don’t know what will.

It also helps illustrate how important the upcoming matchup against the Lakers will be for the Jazz. One win will get them into the playoffs, meaning they have three tries to do that, but they need to be scratching and clawing to win every game they can, if possible. That’s especially true considering they’ll be battling the defending champion Golden State Warriors on Tuesday before a potential third-seed showdown that would mean a determined Portland Trail Blazers opponent on Wednesday.

In short, despite the fact that the Lakers aren’t in the playoff hunt, today’s bout is nothing short of a must-win for the Utah Jazz.

They faced the Lakers mere days ago at Vivint Smart Home Arena and it wasn’t exactly what you would call an easy victory. The Jazz got down by as much as 12 in the first half and even after taking the lead, they still allowed Los Angeles to hang around as it was a single-digit game for most of the fourth quarter, leading up to a 117-110 Jazz victory.

If Utah is to win this all-important bout, they’ll need to do a much better job on the road.

Fortunately, the Jazz have been surprisingly solid on the road of late where they’ve won 14 of their last 15 contests. Not only that, but the Jazz could receive a huge benefit from the fact that the Lakers are pretty banged up. Isaiah Thomas (hip) and Brandon Ingram (concussion protocol) are out, while Kyle Kuzma (ankle) and Lonzo Ball (knee) are both questionable.

Kuzma absolutely exploded on the Jazz in the last meeting with 26 points on 50 percent shooting from the field. If he’s out of commission due to persisting ankle issues, it will dramatically sway the game in Utah’s favor.

The Jazz aren’t exactly one hundred percent up to snuff either, though, as Ricky Rubio is once again questionable for the contest as his hamstring issue persists. Luckily, both Jae Crowder, who left the game against the LA Clippers after Derrick Favors smacked him in the eye, and the long-injured Raul Neto are available tonight, so hopefully that pair will boost the Jazz, particularly if Rubio is indeed sidelined.

Rubio has been spectacular of late and one of the key driving forces in Utah’s incredible run during the latter part of the season. Utah will need him back sooner rather than later not only to clinch a playoff spot, but to challenge for home court advantage and potentially make some noise in the postseason. If Rubio is unable to go, the Jazz’s chances at success take a notable turn in the wrong direction.

Regardless of whether he suits up today or not, though, I’m feeling good about Utah’s chances. Sure, this contest does have somewhat the feel of a trap game going up against a young Lakers team with nothing to lose that has succesfully played spoiler of late, but there’s also a lot of things going in the Jazz’s favor that lead me to believe that they’ll come out on top. Between Laker injuries (especially if Kuzma can’t suit up), to Utah’s solid play on the road, to how important they’ll certainly realize this game is, I’m confident they’ll put together a complete game to nab the W.

My Prediction: Jazz 110, Lakers 102

Following this contest, the Jazz will have just two games remaining in the regular season. As I mentioned, they control their own destiny for the third seed in the West meaning that the final stretch of the regular season is going to be absolutely thrilling for this surging Jazz squad.