SALT LAKE CITY — With just 23 games left in the regular season, the Jazz host the Los Angeles Clippers, Wednesday, in a game with playoff ramifications.
The outcome could decide who gets a No. 6 seed in the postseason and who finishes eighth.
A regular Battle of Hastings.
In the Bay Area, this sort of hyperbole might seem quaint. But here in Utah, it’s as suspenseful as a Coben novel. This is where the story gets interesting, though. The Jazz have converted what was becoming a predictable, fair-to-middling franchise into a postseason wild card. They have shown the ability to beat any team in the league — including defending champion Golden State — but they’ve also shone in tangential ways.