Hanging by a thread, Jazz play on

OKLAHOMA CITY — For all practical purposes, they're on their deathbed.

In a worst-case scenario, in fact, the Jazz's playoff hopes could take a last-gasp breath as early as Saturday night.

Combine a Utah loss to New Orleans/Oklahoma City tonight with a Los Angeles Lakers home win over Portland this evening and a Sacramento victory at Denver on Saturday, and the Jazz indeed are done.

That's one way to look at what little remains of Utah's regular season — a three-game trip that begins with tonight's visit with the Hornets followed by stops in Dallas on Sunday and San Antonio on Monday, then a home finale against Golden State on Wednesday.

Yet even with the reality in mind, franchise-icon forward Andrei Kirilenko has chosen now — the worst possible time, some might suggest — to complain about how few quality touches of the ball he's been getting lately.

It started after Wednesday's win over Denver, when Kirilenko voiced displeasure with his recent role in the Jazz offense.

"For the third game," he said, "I didn't have any plays."

That changed a bit in Wednesday's second half. Kirilenko acknowledged as much. On Thursday, though, he did not back down — saying he doesn't mean to sound selfish, but just wants his fair share of legit scoring opportunities.

"Not just touch the ball," he said, "but feeling like you're in the game.

"I don't feel like I'm valuable on the floor," added Kirilenko, who got just four shots (he missed each) in Wednesday's first half and only three total in Monday's win over Houston. "I want to have fun on the floor. I don't want to be a robot."

Kirilenko, whose call to score diminished somewhat after back-from-injury forward Carlos Boozer joined season scoring leader Mehmet Okur in the frontcourt, even lobbied for coach Jerry Sloan's support.

"I feel like if the coach believes in you," he said, "you will make shots."

All this as the Jazz try to deal with the fact that the magic number for both the Lakers and Kings — owners of the Western Conference's final two playoff positions — to eliminate them from postseason contention is just two for both.

In other words: Any combination of Jazz losses and Lakers wins adding to two, and Utah can no longer overtake L.A.; ditto for the Jazz and Sacramento.