Joe Stevens recaps the Jazz-Clippers game.

"It was one of the most meaningful games the Clippers have played since making the playoffs in 1997. And, well, for the rest of the season, the games figure to be getting less and less meaningful.  

The wily Utah Jazz repeatedly got wide-open shots, shot an impressive 54.7 percent and took control of the race for the final Western Conference playoff spot with a 105-92 victory over the Clippers before 19,513 Saturday night at Staples Center. The Clippers lost their 13th consecutive game to the Jazz and haven't beaten them since 1999.

The Clippers (37-37) fell 4?1/2 games behind the Jazz (41-32). The teams have a rematch in Utah on Wednesday, but the Jazz need just five wins or five Clipper losses to clinch the final playoff spot."

Art Thompson's report on Utah's win over the L.A. Clippers.

"It was a game the Clippers had to have if their dying playoff hopes were to have any life.

After Saturday night's 105-92 loss to the Utah Jazz at Staples Center, the Clippers are not mathematically eliminated from the Western Conference playoff chase, but their chances are remote after they fell to the eighth-place Jazz for the 13th consecutive time.

"Until we're mathematically eliminated, we're still going to play as though we have a chance to get in, because we do," Clippers coach Alvin Gentry said.

You might say the Clippers fumbled away an opportunity to put the heat on Utah, because a Clippers victory would have shaved the Jazz lead over the Clippers to 2 1/2 games for the final playoff spot."

Elliot Teaford gives the Clippers' slant on their loss to the Jazz.

"Well, that was fun while it lasted. The Clippers' season came to a figurative end, although not a literal one, with a 105-92 loss Saturday to the Utah Jazz before a sellout crowd of 19,513 at Staples Center.

Mathematically, the Clippers are still alive in their quest for a Western Conference playoff berth. There are eight games left on their schedule, including a rematch Wednesday with the Jazz at the Delta Center.

Realistically, though, they're history after Saturday's loss left them 41/2 games behind the Jazz in the battle for the eighth and final spot. Predictably, no one waved a white towel in surrender in the Clipper camp at game's end."

The Jazz have changed the way fans pay for playoff tickets, writes Michael C. Lewis.

"Faced with the prospect of annoying some of their best customers, the Jazz have changed the way they charge season-ticket holders for tickets to the upcoming NBA playoffs. Now, fans won't have to pay for games that won't be played.
   
Jay Francis, the team's senior vice president for marketing, acknowledges "some concern" about continuing the old practice of charging season-ticket holders up front for all 15 potential home playoff games -- especially in a season when the Jazz are not expected to go far in the playoffs and cannot possibly play 15 home games, because they will not have home-court advantage.
   
So the team decided to bill its season-ticket holders, based on the number of playoff games the Jazz actually play at the Delta Center.
   
"It has been well-received," Francis says."

Steve Luhm's recap of Utah's big win over the L.A. Clippers.

"The Jazz may not be expected to do much in the playoffs, but they took a giant step toward getting there Saturday night at the Staples Center.
   
Bryon Russell poured in 19 points and John Stockton scored eight of his 16 points in the final 5:09 as the Jazz secured their hold on eighth place in the Western Conference with a 105-92 win over the Los Angeles Clippers.
   
Moving nine games over .500 for the first time this season, the Jazz (41-32) pulled 4 1/2 games ahead of the ninth-place Clippers (37-37) with nine games left. The Jazz are 1 1/2 games behind seventh-place Seattle and three games behind sixth-place Portland."

Michael C. Lewis reports on how the Jazz -- and other Utah sports teams -- are struggling to get people in seats.

"Falling attendance at Jazz basketball games the past couple of seasons has scarcely escaped the attention of those who still go to watch Karl Malone and John Stockton valiantly defy age, if not expectations. But when season-ticket holders opened a letter from the team recently, they could see for themselves just how worried management is about the phenomenon.
   
In a word?
   
Terrified.
   
The letter told fans that if they renew their upper-bowl season tickets for next year, the Jazz would cut the price in half. That's practically a fire sale on what used to be the hottest sporting ticket in town, demonstrating how desperate the Jazz are to keep filling the 19,911 seats at the Delta Center as Stockton and Malone wind their way toward retirement and the team slowly sinks toward the dreaded draft lottery."

Rich Evans thinks Donyell Marshall and Bryon Russell just aren't motivated this season.

"Everybody needs a carrot.
     
You know, the carrot dangling in front of the horse, or mule, that keeps it moving forward.
   
For an athlete, the carrot might be acclaim, money, the promise of getting to the playoffs, the allure of contending for a title.
     
Or the carrot might be simple pride ? not the pride that equates to vanity, conceit or egotism, but the pride that equates to a sense of one's own dignity or worth.
     
The pride that compels a player to sweat and labor and bust his tail, to go out and do his best even in a hopeless cause.
     
So what happens when the carrot is no longer there?
     
What happens when a player has enough money, when he doesn't think his team can contend and merely getting to the playoffs holds little attraction, when pride is only felt in spurts, and not as a consistent, driving force?
     
What happens is what we're seeing with the Jazz."

Tim Buckley writes that the Jazz are close to the playoffs, but they aren't dwelling on it.

"John Stockton swore he hasn't been keeping track.
     
Didn't know just how far back those pesky Los Angeles Clippers really were. Didn't care much, either.

DeShawn Stevenson, right, helped the Jazz leap past L.A. and Tremaine Fowlkes Saturday.

Good thing for the Jazz their 40-year-old point guard hasn't wasted much mental energy worrying about such trivial matters. Because Utah needed every bit of Stockton's focus, and that of several others, to beat the Clips for a 13th straight time.
     
Once they did, holding on to win 105-92 Saturday night in front of 19,513 at the sold-out Staples Center, the Jazz could feel much better about the likelihood of making a 19th consecutive trip to the NBA playoffs."

Tom McEachin writes about tonight's big game against the Clippers.

Traveling to Los Angeles for an important game is nothing new for the Utah Jazz, but rarely has a game with playoff implications involved the Clippers.

The Jazz, however, have long given up hope of catching the Lakers this season, so they must settle for trying to put away the Clippers.

The Jazz hold a 3 1/2 game lead over the Clippers for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference, but Utah is up by four games in the loss column.

A victory tonight would also clinch the tiebreaker, giving the Jazz what would amount to a six-game lead with nine games to go.

Tim Buckley writes, the chant has long been "Beat L.A., Beat L.A."

It always used to reference the Lakers. These days, though, Jazz fans might as well be shouting about the Clippers.

My, how the mighty from Utah have fallen.

Rather than chasing Sacramento, the Lakers, San Antonio and Dallas for first place in the NBA's Western Conference playoff race, the Jazz's hopes, perhaps even expectations, are lowered this season.

At best, they might catch Seattle for seventh in the West. At least, they hope to hold off Los Angeles ? the oft-lowly Clippers, not the two-time defending NBA-champion Lakers ? for the conference's eighth and final playoff berth.
     
All this month, the Jazz have played with one eye on those pesky Clippers. Tonight, when the two teams meet at Staples Center for the first of two games in five nights, much of the Jazz's postseason fate will be at stake.