Jazz still eyeing berth in playoffs
Sitting at his locker stall minutes after a 111-101 win at Atlanta on Friday night snapped Utah's three-game losing streak, Williams readily admitted to having become a scoreboard-watching regular.
"You've got to see where you're at," he said. "You know, you've got to know. We're watching L.A. (the Los Angeles Lakers) and Sacramento close. I know L.A. was up on New Jersey, I know Sac was losing.
"We know those things."
Before Friday night was finished, the Lakers had lost at Jersey and the Kings had fallen at Indiana. Those two hold down the final two postseason positions in the NBA's Western Conference, with the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets currently one spot out in ninth and Utah sitting 10th.
Moreover, Denver — which leads the Jazz's Northwest Division — lost on Friday as well.
The Nuggets were beaten at Memphis, which is where the Jazz play this afternoon at the tail end of a four-game trip that started with losses in Miami on Tuesday and Orlando on Wednesday.
The task is no simple one.
The Lakers and Kings remain two games up on the Jazz, and Utah has just 17 games remaining in its 82-game regular season, which means time for leapfrogging is running short.
Each of the Jazz's next seven opponents — playoff-bound Memphis, Phoenix, Washington, Sacramento, New Orleans/Oklahoma City, Denver and the Los Angels Clippers — have winning records.
The Jazz open a four-game homestand Tuesday night against the Pacific Division-leading Suns, and nine of their final 17 are at the Delta Center — where at 16-16 they don't even have a winning record this season.
And Utah's last road trip — at Oklahoma City on April 14, at Dallas on April 16 and at San Antonio on April 17 — is about as ugly as it gets.
Still, the notion of spending late April in the playoffs — after having spent the last two postseasons on the outside looking in — is not altogether out of the question.
"I'd like to see us win some games," coach Jerry Sloan said, "and have a chance to be in the playoffs.
"We hope they don't drop their heads and think, 'Well, this can't be done' — because you never know," he added. "Some team might get in a slump, might get somebody hurt."
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