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.