They won, and they had fun.
Ultimately, though, none of it may matter.
Such was the prevailing sentiment Wednesday night, when the Jazz started slow but turned it on late to roll past Denver 104-83 at the Delta Center.
Utah won its fourth straight game and for the seventh time in its last nine, doing it against a Nuggets team still decompressing from the mile-high euphoria of having clinched the NBA's Northwest Division championship two nights earlier.
The victory came with positive postseason implications for the Jazz.
Perhaps more notably for Utah, however, it pushed its record to 39-39 — marking the first time the Jazz have been .500 since they dipped under even with a Feb. 11 loss in Houston.
Or is it?
Some seemed to think so.
"If it happens that we can't make the playoffs, that would be a good accomplishment," rookie point guard Deron Williams said when asked about finishing the regular season, which now has just four games remaining, with something other than a losing record.
Others, however, weren't so sure.
"You don't look back at your years when you get done playing and say, 'Oh, we had a .500 year,' " forward Matt Harpring said. "You look back and say, 'Oh, we made the playoffs.'
"The playoffs are the most important thing when you play this game."
And for the Jazz, the playoffs — even after winning Wednesday — are an ambition that remains so close and yet so far away.
Utah started the night three games behind the seventh-place Los Angeles Lakers and two games behind the eighth-place Sacramento Kings, holders of the final two postseason positions in the NBA's Western Conference.
After doing away with Denver behind double-doubles from both Carlos Boozer (game-high 25 points, game-high 13 rebounds) and Mehmet Okur (24 points, 10 boards), and double-figure scoring from their other three starters as well (Williams and Andrei Kirilenko had 14 each, Harpring added 13), the Jazz picked up a half-game each on both the idle Kings and the idle Lakers.
They also kept the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets at bay, a game behind in 10th.
That's the good news for Utah.
The bad: The magic number for both the Lakers and Kings to eliminate the Jazz from postseason contention remains at just two.
In other words: Any combination of Sacramento wins and Utah losses adding to two over the Kings' final three games and the Jazz's final four kills Utah's chances of catching Sacramento; any combination of Los Angeles wins and Utah losses adding to two over the Lakers' final three games and the Jazz's final four kills Utah's chances of catching L.A.
"The season's not over," Williams said. "We still have a chance, even if it's a slim chance."
"I like it," Kirilenko said. "All we need now is a little help from L.A. and Sacramento."
And a little more help from themselves, like winning out.
"Four games left," Okur said, looking ahead to a three-game trip that starts Friday at Oklahoma City and continues Sunday at Dallas and Monday in San Antonio before the season ends at home on Wednesday vs. Golden State. "It's gonna be tough."
Certainly tougher than beating the short-handed Nuggets, who after being down by seven at the half got to within two a couple of times in the third quarter before Utah began to pull away.
The Jazz went into the fourth up eight at 71-63, and took a double-digit lead when a short hook from Boozer made it 82-72 with just less than nine minutes remaining.
Denver, without would-be starters Marcus Camby (back) and Kenyon Martin (knee), watched Utah more than double that advantage over the next five minutes as Kirilenko, Okur and Boozer all clicked.
"When you get wide-open, uncontested dunks," Williams said, "it's always fun."
"We had a good time," Okur added. "That's what you need sometimes. It's all about playing hard, and having fun — and we did both."
Not that any of that will mean much, however, if the Jazz's magic act has worn thin by this time next week.
After all, Harpring reminds, "The playoffs is the only thing that matters."
E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com