It's not yet guaranteed that the Los Angeles Lakers will face the Utah Jazz in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs.
But if the Lakers' make their intended statement Tuesday night, it will be.
Both teams will finish their regular seasons at Staples Center, and if the Jazz want any chance of avoiding the No. 8 seed and a return trip to Los Angeles, they'll have to avoid a sixth straight road loss to the Lakers.
While the Lakers (64-17) have long since locked up the top seed in the West as they gear up for another run at the franchise's 15th NBA title, eighth-place Utah is one game behind New Orleans and Dallas with one game to play.
The Jazz (48-33) hold the tiebreaker over both teams, so a win over Los Angeles would give them a chance to move up if either the Hornets or Mavericks lose their finale Wednesday. But a loss would setup a rematch with the Lakers, who eliminated Utah in six games in a conference semifinal series last year.
"We put ourselves in that position," Jazz point guard Deron Williams said. "We had some ballgames where we should have won."
While Tuesday's game has no meaning for the Lakers in the standings, they'd like to earn a mental edge in the potential playoff series after losing 113-109 in Salt Lake City on Feb. 11 despite 37 points from Kobe Bryant.
"We're going into (Tuesday's game) trying to send them a message," Lakers center Andrew Bynum said.
Bynum was inactive for Los Angeles' loss to the Jazz during his two-month absence due to a knee injury, and Lakers coach Phil Jackson is trying to work him back into shape for the postseason. In Bynum's third game back, he scored 18 points in a 92-75 win over Memphis on Sunday night.
"I'm feeling a little better, my timing's getting better," Bynum said. "I'm getting back into the flow, getting back into the rhythm."
Utah would also like to find a groove after its late-season stumble sent them tumbling down the standings.
Even after beating the Los Angeles Clippers 106-85 at home on Monday night, the Jazz have lost six of eight, and they're just 7-10 since a 12-game winning streak that carried into early March.
A good portion of those struggles have come on the road, where the Jazz have lost eight of their last 10 and are 15-25.They've dropped their last five road games against the Lakers, including a 113-100 loss on Jan. 2 in which Bryant scored 40 points, and their lone road victory this season over a team currently with a winning record was a 108-94 victory at New Orleans on April 5.The Jazz will hope to build on Monday's win, which ended a three-game losing streak. Carlos Boozer and Paul Millsap each notched double-doubles to combine for 39 points and 24 rebounds, leading the team to a 50-36 edge on the boards. Utah also forced 15 turnovers that led to 24 points.
"For us to have a chance to win, we've got to play defense like we did tonight," Boozer said. "We hustled out there. We dove for loose balls. We were scrappy."
Utah hopes to have center Mehmet Okur available Tuesday after he missed the second half of the game with a strained right hamstring.
