SALT LAKE CITY — So is making the playoffs, even if it's "just" as the No. 8 seed in the West, really that big of a deal?
Yeah, turns out it's pretty darned important to the Utah Jazz, who haven't been invited to the NBA's postseason party since 2012.
"I think it's very important," said the team's leading scorer, sixth-year player Gordon Hayward. "We've been talking about this the whole year, and I think it's just time to not talk and we've got to go out and play and we've got to make it happen, or else it won't.
"We've got a lot of must-win games coming up. We're still taking it game by game, I think, that's the only thing you can do."
Entering Friday night's game against Washington, the sputtering Jazz found themselves languishing a full three games behind the Houston Rockets for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
Perhaps the most frustrating part of this situation is that little more than two weeks ago the Jazz had jumped ahead of Houston in the standings, a game ahead of the Rockets in the loss column.
Since then, though, Utah has lost seven of its last eight games to see its postseason hopes gradually start slipping away.
"People ask what's happened the last couple of weeks, well, we've played Golden State and Toronto on the road, and there's some games that you wish we would've won when we didn't play as well," said second-year head coach Quin Snyder. "There's been some things with our schedule that we haven't been able to overcome and we haven't been able to beat some of those teams, even though we've played them competitively in most instances."
But they're not by any means throwing in the towel yet. With 18 games to go in the NBA's regular season entering Friday's matchup with the Wizards, the Jazz aren't about to give up on their goal of making this year's playoffs.
"It's important," said second-year shooting guard Rodney Hood. "We're taking it game by game, and we know we've got a small window right now. We've got to put some wins together; we just need to win, you know, I think that's the biggest thing, to get the team morale up a little bit we need to win.
"We haven't been playing horrible, it's just we've just got to finish games. And we get a win under our belt, maybe we get rolling."
Hood was asked what making the playoffs would mean to this young Jazz ballclub?
"It'd be tremendous, especially for a young team, to make the playoffs in the West," he said. "It would prepare a lot of our careers, and we understand how important it is to make a name for ourselves and for the Jazz. But we've got to take it game by game."
COACH'S POINT OF VIEW: Snyder would love to see his team make the playoffs, too, but that's not the end all scenario for the franchise to hang its hat on right now.
After all, with this young team, it's still about player development and about making steady progress.
"It's not the end of the world for us to really compete and even not make it," he said. "To be in a situation where you're in a competitive race, I think, is something that can help our team whether we're able to win that race so to speak and make it or not.
"But it would be something that would be really good, I think, really good for our program. And again, just the process of going through that challenge, I think, is good for us regardless of the result."
While making a late-season playoff push appears to be the fans' top priority, Snyder is more proud of the way his team has fought through all the injuries and adversity that have plagued them and still managed to stay in contention at this point of the season.
"So if we find ourselves in that (playoff) position, great," he said. "But I think there's an element at the end of the year to have seen all the work you've done as a group and individually kind of coalesce and try to figure out where you are as a team. And that, to me, is what we have a chance to do is to really learn about ourselves in a competitive environment.
"I mean, part of development is competing, and that's something we're aware of. But at the same time, is the year gonna be a failure if we don't make the playoffs? Of course not. I mean, don't tell me when we played the Clippers on the 26th of December without Rudy (Gobert), (Derrick Favors) and Alec (Burks) got hurt and we don't have Dante' Exum. You're gonna have a hard time seeing a team without four of its top six players at a certain point succeed on a high level.
"In that sense, I feel like the season has been a great success as far as what we've been able to accomplish as a group and in terms of growth and guys maturing as players," he said. "And through that, we find ourselves in a position where we're in a playoff race, although we're not currently there, we're a few games back. And what the heck, let's play the way we played last year and just compete with something else at stake."
ENERGY LEVEL: Hayward said it's difficult to get through the grind of a grueling 82-game schedule, especially with all the adversity he and his teammates have faced this season. But they're determined to do just that.
"The last stretch of the year is something you've just got to fight through, and we should all have enough energy for the games like tonight where they're must-win games," he said. "This is why we play. You have to fight through adversity, that's just how it is."
As the team's top player, Hayward denied he's feeling any pressure with a possible playoff berth at stake.
"I think there's natural pressure because of that," he said. "For me, I don't think I sense it, I've never been one to really sense that too much. I think we've got to just go out and play, play like we know how to play, like we're capable of playing. And I think that starts with not turning the ball over."
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