"Dude, you know what we're going to do? We're going to take care of business first. We'll see what happens."

What the Jazz are focusing on, however, is trying to secure homecourt advantage for at least the opening round.

"Well, that's what everybody would like to have," said coach Jerry Sloan, whose club finished an NBA-best 37-4 at EnergySolutions Arena this season — but is just 17-23 on the road.

"That's what you play for," Sloan added. "We're in position to try to do that, and it's up to us to take care of business. If we can't do that, then we'll see where we land."

The Jazz can guarantee themselves homecourt for their first series by winning tonight at San Antonio — where they have lost 17 straight games, 20 including the playoffs, a futility streaking dating to 1999.

Even if they lose tonight, the Jazz can also get it — in a No. 4 vs. No. 5-seed series vs. Houston — should the Rockets lose tonight as well.

"We're very good at home, best in the NBA, so obviously we want that," veteran forward Matt Harpring said. "But, with that being said, if we don't get it, it's not the end of the world, either."

Harpring firmly believes the Jazz can emerge from the Western Conference bracket no matter where they start.

Yet he readily acknowledges Utah — which advanced to last season's Western Conference finals as a No. 4 seed, only to lose to San Antonio in five games — is not exactly alone in that regard.

"I think (the Jazz are more confident than last year), because we've been there," Harpring said. "We've kind of done it, so we know what it takes to get to the level that we want to get back to.

"But the West is so very good, anyone from the first seed to the eighth seed can really create trouble," he added. "Last year, it wasn't really that way, I didn't think. This year, I think, if you're a sixth, seventh or eighth seed, you're thinking that you can win it all, just as well as the first, second or third seed."

Or, for that matter, the fourth.

And if it's Barkley doing the picking — even without the benefit of knowing how the pairings will shape up — there is little question as to which seed in the West would be the one with which to go.

In Sir Charles' world, it's whichever one the Jazz happen to be assigned.

"At midseason," Barkley said, "I picked Utah. I still feel pretty good about that pick."

GAME 82 — It all comes down to this ...

The Jazz will open the 2008 playoffs at Phoenix if ...