\Double Jinx\

Despite my best efforts to jinx the Jazz, Utah is still in contention for the #2 seed with just two games remaining in the regular season. We need a little help from San Antonio and Phoenix, but come Thursday morning, I think it is quite probable that we will end up in that 2-3 sweet spot to avoid a potential Conference Semifinals matchup against the Lakers.

After that, all bets are off.

I honestly have no idea who is going to make it out of the Western Conference. I think any team in the West can beat any other team in West in a 7 game series. As a Jazz fan, that is terrifying. As a NBA fan, that is exhilarating.

Baring Phoenix winning out (which would set up a difficult road matchup against the Nuggets), the Jazz are on course to play either the Spurs, the Thunder or the Blazers. Of all of those potential matchups, I think I would prefer playing the Spurs.

As we saw less than a week ago, the Thunder are just scary. And although we beat the Blazers 6 times over the course of the pre-season and season, I would gain little satisfaction in knocking out a team that has played quite admirably in the face of so many injuries. Not to mention, I would be unable to speak to my Portland friends during the week of that matchup. Besides, after the Blazers dismantled the Lakers in Los Angeles this afternoon, I would much rather them fall to the #8 seed (which looks likely given that Roy's injury will probably keep him out of the crucial game against OKC tomorrow).

Don't get me wrong: the Spurs are playing great basketball right now. But nothing would give me greater pleasure than watching the Jazz hip-check the Spurts out of the playoffs. Then again, the Jazz lose their cool against teams that get the benefit of the doubt from refs.

As I said before, all bets are off.

The Jazz could very well be making another first round exit, which would be a disappointment -- but not a major one. I'll be sad to see one of our major pieces leave during the offseason (probably Boozer, maybe AK), but after last season's endgame debacle, I am just happy to see this team play (an almost) 82 games at the level it is capable of.

Here is quick look back at my 5 favorite games from the 2009-2010 Utah Jazz season:

#5. November 19, @ San Antonio (W 90-83)
Besides that week in which the Jazz beat the Lakers, Spurs, and Magic at home, there was not much to feel good about during the 2009 half of the season. Except this little gem. Somehow, despite a middling 5-6 start, the Jazz pulled together its first road win in the Alamo Dome in over a decade, snapping a 20 game losing streak. Although this victory was not the catalyst that the pulled the team together, it was an opportunity to exercise some demons and to dismantle the image of the Jazz as a poor road team. Plus, I hate just about everything about the Spurs.

#4. January 9, @ Dallas (W 111-93)
The first 36 games of the season felt like an extension of the ennui that plagued the team during its free-fall to the 8 seed the year before. After losing 4 games out of 5 including a painful loss at home to a Melo-less Nuggets, the Jazz were 19-17 and in 10th place in the Western Conference. Rumors were starting to circulate that management was willing to trade every player except Deron Williams. Then out of nowhere, the Jazz destroyed the Mavericks in Dallas. This my friends, was when the season started to turn around. The Jazz would go on to win 17 out its next 19 games, including a pair higher up on this list.

#3. April 6, vs. Oklahoma City (W 140-139 OT)
There was a lot of chatter that this overtime thriller was THE game of the year. Close, but no cigar.

#2 February 21, @ Portland (W 93-89 OT)
The Jazz thoroughly embarrassed the Blazers just a month earlier in the Rose Garden, so I was fully expecting some karmic justice and more than a little grief from my Portland bros when I attended this game. Lo and behold, in the first quarter, AK went to the locker room with backspsams, leaving Utah without two of its starters. With 7 minutes left in the third, the Blazers took a commanding 25 point lead much to the amusement of the crowd. It seemed like every time the Jazz trimmed the lead, the Blazers would answer back with a bucket. And then Korver scored a 3 ball 4 minutes into the 4th, closing the gap to just 9 points. I remember this moment perfectly because some random guy a few rows in front of me jumped out of his seat yelling angrily "Korver! Finally!" Slowly, the crowd's elation was replaced with dread. The crowd let out a collective grown when Boozer hit an impossible 8 foot buzzer beater to send the game into overtime. After the Jazz's improbable come from behind victory on the road (as I mentioned before, 2nd best in NBA history), I left the Rose Garden suppressing a smile as the people around me headed home shellshocked. Quite a bizarre feeling.

#1. January 14, vs. Cleveland (W 97-96)
'Nuff said.