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Mavericks visit shorthanded Jazz with playoff implications on the line

Feb 5, 2009 - 11:17 AM Dallas (28-19) at Utah (27-22) 10:30 p.m. EST

SALT LAKE CITY (Ticker) -- The final spot in the Western Conference playoffs may well come down to the Utah Jazz and Dallas Mavericks, giving added weight to Thursday's showdown in Salt Lake City in what has already become a heated series.

The Jazz, beset by various injuries to five of their top six players over the course of the season, have struggled to find any consistency with a lineup perpetually in flux. The Mavericks, meanwhile, in their first year under new head coach Rick Carlisle, have been only a shell of the team that advanced to the NBA finals in 2006 and won a league-best 67 games the following campaign.

Now, with the two fighting it out for postseason positioning, the Jazz get a chance to gain a bit of ground when they host the Mavericks. Dallas currently sits in the seventh spot in the West, while Utah lurks two games behind in an eighth-place tie with the Phoenix Suns (26-21).

Recently memories in Utah haven't been particularly pleasant for Dallas All-Star Dirk Nowitzki, who was suspended for one game following each of his last two trips to the Beehive State. Last season, he clotheslined Jazz forward Andrei Kirilenko and sent him to the hospital - much to the chagrin of a livid EnergySolutions Arena crowd. Then in his return trip on December 26, he hit Matt Harpring in the face on a rebound, earning himself another one-game punishment.

The biggest question for the Jazz, however, is not whether they have to watch out for Nowitzki's physicality, but whether Deron Williams will be available to provide a lift for a seriously depleted lineup. The fourth-year point guard missed Monday's meeting with the Charlotte Bobcats with a bruised right quadriceps but went through a full practice on Wednesday, according to The Salt Lake Tribune, and was encouraged by the decreased swelling in the area.

Without him, the Jazz managed to survive with a 105-86 triumph over Charlotte. That, of course, was not a likely playoff team. Dallas is a different story.

The Mavericks have won four straight, including Wednesday's 104-99 victory on the road over the Portland Trail Blazers. Josh Howard led the way with 23 points and Jason Terry added 20 off the bench.