Jazz looking okay
 

I thought the Jazz had a good chance to beat San Antonio at home last night, but I certainly didn't see a 30-point beatdown coming. Of course, Popovich essentially raised a white flag with 15 minutes left in the game, so I'm unsure how much we can learn.

Another concern is that I'm not sold that Utah's defense had a lot to do with the Spurs' 64-point total. San Antonio missed an awful lot of layups and wide-open looks. And Ginobili certainly isn't at 100%.

I still think the Jazz are a solid defensive center away from winning it all. Can Fesenko be that guy? I'd be willing to move Okur, as great as he's been playing, for a seven-footer who can blocks shots and intimidate opposing players around the basket.

Oh, and good win, L.A. Typical collapse by Dallas, but still, every win counts at this point. I think the seeding will go down to the last day.

The Spurs players said that Popovich sat the starters according to his standard rotation pattern at the end of the third quarter. When it was time to put them back in a few minutes later, the game was out of hand, so he didn't bother.

Honestly, I don't think it would have mattered. The Jazz were on an amazing roll.

The refs let a lot of physical play go. Which was to our advantage.

Speaking of missed layups, Harpring missed about three in the second half.

We were at the ESA for this one. Sold out arena, playoff atmosphere. Our ears were ringing for hours afterward. An awesome game.

Had the Jazz lost last night, we could have taken one positive thing away from it - the Warriors would have been eliminated from the playoff picture.

Here's to you and your silly team, NorCal. You may think they're fun to watch, but it all ends before post season starts. That must feel good.

how would the warriors been eliminated?

Something about the Warriors having 30 losses would make it impossible for them. I read it in the report of the game in the SA Express.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/s...r.385e7aa.html

It would have clinched a spot for the spurs, not eliminated the warriors. Meaning, there would have been no way that the Warriors make the playoffs and the Spurs don't.

FWIW, the Jazz are 1 win or 1 Warriors loss away from this scenario being applicable to them.

The warriors are 1/2 game down from Denver. If they go ahead of Denver, they are in.

What the article says is that with a SA win, the Warriors would not have been able to pass SA.

I thought the Jazz clinched last night with their win?

The Lakers clinched last night. It marks 55 out of 60 years in the playoffs. Pretty amazing.

My bad. I mis-read it.

Denver is 4 games back of Utah. So that means that Utah has not clinched it's division.

SA and Lakers have an identical record, yet Lakers have clinched while SA has not. It must be because the Lakers win the tiebreaker with SA.

As of two days ago, not a single team in the west had clinched a spot yet. As of last week, the Jazz were three games out of first, and three games out of ninth place.

On the other hand, if you took all of the east teams and put them in with the west teams, all of the east teams except for Boston would be eliminated from the playoffs.

Crazy year.

I got it. you guys are talking about division, I was referring to the playoffs in general. I think the Jazz did clinch a playoff spot last night.

To add further injustice, the Top seed in the East opens against an 8 seed that isnt even .500. The top seed in the West opens against an 8 seed that has probably won 50 games.

I believe the answer is "no they did not." not according to espn.

I was talking West vs. East with a friend of mine last night, and he brought up an interesting point.

Sure, if teams like Golden State and Dallas and Denver were in the Eastern Conference, they'd take the place of teams like Atlanta and Cleveland and Washington based on their records.

But if the Warriors or Mavs played in the Eastern Conference, they'd have even more wins, because they'd be playing weaker competition more frequently.

it's not going to matter if the Celtics win it all. And I don't think anyone would be surprised if this happened.

This is true. You'd have a whole bunch of 60 win teams.

Don't forget about Detroit and Orlando. Those three would be in the playoffs in the West, or at least not elimintated. Everybody else would.

No, it was playoffs. They needed a win and a Warriors loss. The Warriors won. Still need either one more Jazz win or Warriors loss and they are in.

It will be interesting to see how the Jazz do on this road trip.

Not just the road trip, how they finish out the season. The last six games are tough. 1-0 so far, although Pop threw in the towel pretty early. So we don't learn much from that.

True, and who knows what or who will be playing in that last game against the Spurs also. That could be a strategic game that affects seeding so I could see Pop throwing the game if it'd mean playing some one more favorable in the first round. And conversely it could be one of those must win games.

Honestly, as a Jazz fan, I hope they can win that game in SA. Next to the home game against Denver, that would be the most important game for me. I think finally winning in SA, even as a BS game, would give them the confidence to do so in the playoffs if they needed to.

As a Jazz fan, I think I rank the last games as the most important:

1) v. Denver
2) @ SA
3) v. Houston
4) @ Dallas
5) @ New Orleans

Lucky for Utah, two of the most important three games are at home.

One Utah win or one Denver loss from clinching the Division.

Clinched a playoff spot with the GS loss.

Denver & GS are tied for the 8th playoff spot. Both have 5 games remaining.

Denver plays @ Clippers, @ GS, @ Utah, vs. Houston & vs. Memphis.
GS plays vs. Kings, vs. Denver, vs. Clippers, @ Phoenix, vs. Seattle.

I'd say GS has the easier road, and wouldn't be surprised with the Warriors ending up the 8th-seed again.

Dallas COULD drop to the 8th seed, but they close with a pretty easy schedule, and will likely remain at #7: vs. Seattle, vs. Utah, @ Portland, @ Seattle, vs. NO.