SAN ANTONIO -- It all comes down to this one game. If the Utah Jazz beat the San Antonio Spurs this afternoon in the Alamodome, they'll wrap up another Midwest Division title and have the home-court advantage throughout the playoffs. Tuesday's regular-season finale against the Clippers in the Delta Center will be rendered meaningless as far as playoff seeding is concerned.
But if the Jazz lose today, there's a good chance they will have to share the Midwest crown and open the playoffs as the third seed. And their likely first-round opponent will be the dreaded Phoenix Suns, a team that has beaten up on Utah twice in the past 10 days."It's huge," said Karl Malone of Sunday's NBC-televised game. "It's the biggest game of the year."
The Spurs, by virtue of their 98-90 overtime victory over Portland on Saturday afternoon, helped the Jazz put some distance between them and the Blazers.
"(Portland coach) Mike (Dunleavy) and I spoke before the game and said that all three of us are going to beat each other up before the playoffs begin," said San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich. "I just hope we have five bodies left for (the Jazz)."
Utah (36-12) now leads both the Blazers and Spurs by 1 1/2 games -- and owns the tie-breaker advantage over Portland -- in the battle for the best record in the Western Conference.
The Spurs, not the Blazers, are the team now putting the most heat on Utah, even though both are 34-13 on the year.
Today's game counts almost like two since the winner will also have the tie-breaker edge by virtue of a 2-1 series victory. A win today by San Antonio would knot the Spurs and Jazz in the loss column, although San Antonio would have two games remaining (including one at Portland), while the Jazz would just have one that they should win easily (the Clippers at home).
Still, if the Spurs win all three of their remaining games, the best the Jazz could do is tie them with a 37-13 mark -- and San Antonio would have the tie-breaker edge. That means the Jazz would be tied for the best record in the league but would be seeded third in the first round of the playoffs because the division champions automatically get the first and second seeds.
"This was a huge win," said San Antonio center David Robinson on Saturday afternoon. "We couldn't think about Utah. Now we have a little time to celebrate, but we have to play Utah in less than 24 hours."
The Jazz, meanwhile, had Saturday off to spend relaxing in San Antonio after beating Houston on the road Friday night.
The Jazz beat the Spurs handily the last time the teams played in the Alamodome, but that was early in the season when San Antonio was struggling to find an identity. The Jazz dropped the Spurs to 6-8, but since then they are a league-best 28-5.
"I don't think you can win unless you are rooting for each other and playing together," said Robinson. "The chemistry now in this locker room is really good. At the beginning of the year we were all on different pages and it was pretty obvious by our record and everything else."
San Antonio dominated the Jazz in the Delta Center two weeks ago, 83-69, as Robinson's twin tower, Tim Duncan, went off for 36 points.
"They waxed us the last time we played them," said Jerry Sloan. "If play like that and we don't execute against them, they'll wax us again."
The Spurs, perhaps the best defensive team in the league, will try to beat the Jazz on that end of the court.
"The key to playing Utah is to take away some of their easy buckets," said Robinson. "They execute their offense very well, they get to the rim and get layups and backdoors and points in transition. If we can take away some of that stuff, it will make the game competitive."
San Antonio, despite having a better record than the Jazz the past two months, still has a healthy respect for their rivals.
"Utah is like four teams in one," said San Antonio point guard Avery Johnson. "Until someone knocks them off, they're still the best."