Jazz: Mess up now, pay later

Not a big deal, really, this four-game skid by the Utah Jazz.

If there’s one truism in the NBA, it’s that there’s always another game.

The Jazz certainly aren’t out of contention; they’ve barely passed the midway point. But losing games like they did last week to Washington, Philadelphia and New Jersey (not to mention Boston), was a slump that will come back to haunt them.

Seedings are all-important in the post-season, and the Jazz are killing their playoff chances with such losses.

Consider this: Last season, the Jazz were the No. 5 seed in the playoffs, paired against Denver. Though they won that first round series, they lost to the Lakers in the second round. But had the Jazz won one more game, they had a shot at finishing third in the Western Conference and wouldn’t have met the Lakers until the conference finals.

In 2008-09, the Jazz finished the No. 8 seed and lost to the Lakers in the first round. But if they had won two more games, they could have been a sixth-seed. In 2007-08 they were a No. 4 seed, but just two games out of second place and three games out of first.

The Jazz may have won some games they shouldn’t, and they still have time to make up ground, but losing games they should never lose almost always comes back to bite them. Until that changes, plan on the Jazz continuing to lose in the early rounds of the playoffs.

At times it seems Jerry Sloan is obsessive about winning games in the dog days of the season. But when you project ahead to playoff pairings, it makes sense.

The game you botch today might be the one that keeps on giving, right on into the post-season.