They just got through a stretch of seven games in 12 nights, just finished their winless season series with NBA-leading Sacramento Kings. With just six games and a week and a half to go in their regular season, the hard part should be over.
But it's not.
The Los Angeles Clippers' win over Denver on Sunday night leaves the Jazz still one victory — or one Clippers loss, whichever comes first — shy of clinching their 19th straight playoff berth.
And while the inevitability of that does not seem to be in question — at least not yet — Utah's pre-postseason chores rank somewhere between taking out the garbage and cleaning out the garage.
Four of their final six games are against top-four teams from the Western Conference, including tonight's at the Delta Center against the Midwest Division-leading Dallas Mavericks and Tuesday night's visit with the two-time defending NBA-champion Los Angeles Lakers.
Not real high on the fun-meter for most.
But no big bother, they claim, for the 42-34 Jazz, who after Friday's 117-109 loss to the Kings remain the West's No. 8 playoff seed.
"I think it's good for us. The playoffs are harder, not easier, (so) you may as well finish against the best teams and get yourself ready," point guard John Stockton said. "That obviously can go either way, depending on how you do. Either way, I always feel that when you're playing good teams, you have to be there, mentally and physically."
"For us, as far as going to the playoffs, you know we're going to have to play the tough teams," said forward Donyell Marshall, who scored a season-high 32 points against the Kings while Jazz star Karl Malone rested his swollen knee. "You know, we've had a game against Sac — a team that we could run into . . . We have a game (April 17, the Jazz's last of the regular season) with San Antonio, which we could end up playing as well, if we move up. We have a game with the Lakers, which, if somehow we get past the first round, we could run into. As well as Dallas (whom the Jazz also visit on April 16).
"I think it's gonna be a good stretch for us," Marshall added, "to see where we really are."
Jazz coach Jerry Sloan feels much the same way.
"I'd like, quite frankly, to play the best teams every time you step out there — with their best players, nobody's hurt, so you could see who you are," he said. "If you're not good enough, then that's the way it is."
As erratic as the Jazz have played all season, there's really no being certain whether they're good enough or not.
Runs like the one they're on — 8-4 in their last dozen games — offer some cause for Sloan to harbor hope. But then there's the fact they're 2-10 against the West's top four teams, prompting one to wonder if the Jazz might not like what they see in the mirror of those last six, which also includes visits to Phoenix on Thursday and Golden State on Saturday.
"That's the ol' NBA thing that gets yourself in trouble: You're up and down so much," Sloan said, "it's hard for anybody to guess who you are."
There's only one way to find out.
"We've got to continue to (fight), as well as get some wins here," Marshall said.
"You know, we come in here and we get blown out by these teams — we might be sitting like, 'Man, can we really play with these guys?' And you don't want to go into a playoffs thinking that," he added, "because once the playoffs come . . . teams smell the fear, and they come at you right away. They don't hold things back."
All of which leaves precious little time for the Jazz to cleanse themselves — if they're even able — of whatever has them feeling so foul against the West's best.
"A week and a half — it's going to be quick," Marshall said, "but I think it's enough time for us to try to turn this thing to the positive side."
Or at least to dry the dishes.
E-MAIL: tbuckley@desnews.com