Or it could be a springboard into the postseason.

Utah (41-38) will play host to the Timberwolves (29-49) tonight at EnergySolutions Arena.  If the Jazz win, they’ll at least keep pace with the L.A. Lakers in the chase for the playoffs.

And if the Lakers lose their home game with Golden State tonight, it could actually propel the Jazz into a tie for the No. 8 spot in the Western Conference playoff bracket. With the tiebreaker over L.A., that would put the Jazz right where they want to be.

“It’s been fun,” Utah’s Gordon Hayward said. “This is what you play for, to be in a situation like this. There’s some pressure on the line. Games are competitive.”

The Jazz are coming off a 90-80 loss to Oklahoma City on Tuesday. But they remain a solid home team, where they own a 29-11 record at ESA.

Minnesota has been decimated by injuries this season. Going into Friday’s game, the T-Wolves had missed a total of  326 games due to injury or illness. They are missing their best player, 6-10 big man Kevin Love, who suffered a broken hand on Jan. 3 and will miss the remainder of the season.

Love also underwent arthroscopic knee surgery on Wednesday.

Minnesota, 10-29 on the road this season, is led by center Nikola Pekovic, who averages 16.3 points and 8.8 rebounds.

Former Jazzman Andrei Kirilenko averages 12.6 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.8 assists for the T-Wolves.

Also keep an eye on point guard Ricky Rubio, who averages 10.4 points and 7.5 assists per game. When the T-Wolves visited Utah earlier in the season, the 22-year-old did not play. However, when Utah visited Minnesota in February, he recorded 18 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds.

“He’s a great playmaker,” Hayward said. “He has a knack for finding guys in positions where they can score. He’s all over the place.”

Counting tonight’s game there are just three games left in the regular season for the Jazz and Lakers.

After tonight, Utah hits the road for a game at Minnesota (on Monday) and at Memphis (on Wednesday).

Down to the final three games of the season, they trail the L.A. Lakers by a game in the race for the Western Conference’s final playoff spot.

Tonight, the Jazz (41-38) will play host to Minnesota (29-49) at EnergySolutions Arena and the Lakers will welcome Golden State to Staples Center.

Essentially, these are playoff games.

“I’m not going to lie to you,” Utah’s Randy Foye said after Friday’s shootaround. “It’s been like this for at least the last 20 games. Every game has been like, we’re talking into the game and saying, ‘We can’t lose.’”

“You know the situation, you know what you’ve got to do, you know you’ve got to win games,” Foye added. “You know you can’t afford to lose games.”

Foye said that must-win attitude doesn’t even need to be communicated in the locker room, it’s just understood.

“Not saying it (verbally), but you can just tell from looking in someone’s eyes, who you’ve been around the whole year, or looking at the body language, you just know,” he said. “From the time they step on that bus at the hotel –headphones on — focused straightaway (it’s a playoff feeling).”

If nothing else, the fact the Jazz have something to play for down the stretch has sparked players’ competitive juices. Over the past few weeks several Utah players have said they’re having fun and enjoying the competitive nature of the playoff chase.

Mo Williams called it “fun.” So has Foye and Gordon Hayward.

“This is fun, man,” Foye said Friday. “This is definitely fun.”

Foye said he has even enjoyed watching L.A.’s Kobe Bryant will the Lakers into the playoff picture.

Williams stopped short of saying that.

“Well, I haven’t enjoyed that,” he said. “But for our sake I think (experiencing) the togetherness, how we’ve stuck together through this time (has been rewarding). I think we accepted the challenge to stay together and whatever happens in these three games, I feel comfortable with this team that we gave or (have given) all we have.”

Tonight is Utah’s final home game of the regular season and if the Jazz can’t overtake the Lakers, it’ll be their final game at ESA until late October or early November.

The Jazz are 29-11 on their home floor this season.

Not this time, though.

In their quest to earn the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference playoff bracket, the Thunder (56-21) can’t afford to let up. With just five games left on their regular-season schedule, they trail San Antonio by a game in the standings.

So, don’t look for OKC coach Scott Brooks to rest stars Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook or Serge Ibaka tonight when they meet the Jazz (41-37).

And don’t look for Utah to let up either.

With just four regular-season games left, they currently sit in the No. 8 spot in the West bracket, holding only a slight edge over the Los Angeles Lakers.

Tonight’s game means a lot to both teams, which isn’t always the case in April.

“They’re fighting for their playoff lives, just like we’re all fighting for playoff position,” Brooks said. “It’s a great time of the year, a great time of the year to play important games in April.”

OKC is led by Durant, whose 28.4 scoring average equals New York’s Carmelo Anthony as the best in the NBA.

Tonight’s game with be the fourth regular-season meeting between the Jazz and Thunder. OKC leads the series 2-1, with the Jazz’s only win coming Feb. 12 in Salt Lake City.

In three games vs. the Jazz this season, Durant has averaged 27 points and 6.7 rebounds.

Winners of seven of their last eight games, the Jazz are 29-10 at home this season. They are led in scoring by center Al Jefferson, who averages 17.5 points and 9.1 rebounds per game.

In three games vs. OKC this season, Jefferson has averaged 15.7 points and 8.3 rebounds.

“To have home court advantage throughout the playoffs, I guess, is always a good advantage for any team,” Jefferson said. “So, I’m pretty sure if (the Thunder) have a chance to get it, they’re going to get it.”

Kanter suffered a separated left shoulder in the first half of a 103-88 victory over Phoenix on March 26. He has not played since.

According to a report issued by the Jazz, the 20-year-old will undergo surgery Wednesday in Chicago.

The procedure will be performed by Dr. Guido Marra.

According to the report, several consultations were conducted before deciding surgery was the best option.

The 6-foot-11, 248 pound Kentucky product appeared in 70 games during the 2012-13 season, two of them starts. He averaged 7.2 points and 4.3 rebounds while shooting .544 from the field in 15.4 minutes per game.

Kanter reached double figures 22 times, with two double-doubles, including a 23-point, 22-rebound performance in a March 1 win over Charlotte.

Prior to his injury, Kanter had seen action in 136 of a possible 138 games over his first two seasons, including all 66 games as a rookie in 2011-12.  He was originally selected by the Jazz in the first round (third overall selection) of the 2011 NBA Draft.

Jazz reserve forward DeMarre Carroll enjoys the tough, physical, macho aspect of basketball, so much so that the words “Junkyard Dog” seem more like a mantra to him than a moniker.

“Competitive basketball,” Carroll said Tuesday, following shootaround at EnergySolutions Arena.

Carroll and the Jazz will play host to playoff-bound Oklahoma City tonight and with it comes the potential for an interesting battle between Carroll and Thunder All-Star Kevin Durant.

Twice this season, once here in Salt Lake and again in OKC, Carroll and Durant got into some extracurricular activity. Each time seemed to be the result of the aggressiveness with which Carroll plays the game.

“He’s a great player, he’s a superstar,” Carroll said of Durant, who is tied with New York’s Carmelo Anthony as the NBA’s leading scorer, averaging 28.4 points per game.

“You’ve got to figure out a way to kind of slow him down. I feel like the best way to slow him down in to be physical with him. No dirty play, but just try to be physical with him.”

During the Jazz’s 109-94 victory Feb. 12 in Salt Lake, Durant’s frustration boiled over into a flagrant foul on Utah’s Alec Burks. Carroll stepped in the middle of it and was whistled for a technical foul, along with Durant.

The two got into it again during Utah’s blowout loss March 13 in OKC.

“I like that style of basketball,” Carroll said. “I don’t know if he likes it, but I like it. I think it favors me because I’m a nitty gritty junkyard dog type of guy. I just mix it up, man. Try to make him do things that he don’t want to do.”

And Durant?

“That’s what it is against everybody I play against,” he said following OKC’s shootaround. “Everybody’s been playing physical. It’s something I don’t shy away from. You can push me, you can foul me, do whatever you have to do, I’m just gonna keep coming at you.

“DeMarre Carroll’s one of those guys that’s just a good challenge. I don’t know if he’s starting or not but it’s going to be fun playing against their whole team. They’re always physical playing in this building.”

The Jazz (41-37) own the No. 8 spot in the Western Conference playoff picture. OKC (56-21) is a game behind San Antonio for the No. 1 spot.

And the New Orleans Hornets might just give it away.

Going into tonight’s game at EnergySolutions Arena, the Jazz (39-37) are desperate for wins as the chase the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. Fortunately for them, the Hornets (26-49) haven’t won a road game since beating the Pistons on Feb. 11.

Since then they’ve lost seven straight on the road, including 98-88 loss at Golden State on Wednesday.

That same night, the Jazz suffered a home loss to the Nuggets, snapping a five-game winning streak. The loss also knocked them out of the No. 8 spot in the West standings.

With just six games remaining, Utah can’t afford to take anyone lightly … including the Hornets.

“It’s very important, it’s a must win,” Jazz point guard Mo Williams said said.

New Orleans is in last place in the Southwest Division standings and No. 14 of 15 in the Western Conference.

Williams said the Jazz are wary of the Hornets because they’ve got nothing to lose.

“When you face teams like that, young teams trying to find themselves — especially at the end of the year — that’s when they usually pick up most of their wins,” he said. “Teams take them for granted, for one; and they start to play better because they’ve got a whole season under their belt.”

The Jazz are 28-10 at home this season. The Hornets are just 10-26 on the road.

Utah averages 98.6 points per game, while allowing 98.9. Meanwhile, New Orleans averages just 94.1 points, while allowing 97.6.

Four of the Hornets’ starting five averages double figures, including fourth-year guard Eric Gordon, who averages 16.8 points and 3.1 assists.

The point guard battle between Williams and the Hornets’ Greivis Vasquez should be one to watch.

Williams averages 12.5 points and 6.4 assists per game. On Monday, he turned in a 6-for-7 performance behind the 3-point line in a 112-102 victory over Portland.

Vasquez averages 14.1 points and 9.2 assists. He scored 15 points and had nine assists in the loss to Golden State.

“They’re very dangerous if you underestimate them,” Utah coach Tyrone Corbin said.

Gordon Hayward scored went 3-for-6 from 3-point territory and finished with a game-high 18 points in the Jazz’s loss to Denver.

It was simple: Win and you’re in. Snooze and you lose.

Well, they feel asleep Wednesday night, lost to Denver and said goodbye to their ability to control their own postseason fate. Despite riding a five-game winning streak, Utah struggled against the Nuggets and never did seem to find a groove. Consequentially, the Jazz dropped to the No. 9 spot in the standings, a 1/2 game behind the L.A. Lakers.

Now they must start a new winning streak and hope the Lakers lose at least once in the last six games of the season.

Tonight, the Jazz play host to the woeful New Orleans Hornets at EnergySolutions Arena. The Lakers, meanwhile, will take on the playoff-bound Memphis Grizzlies at Staples Center.

Following Friday’s shootaround, Jazz players did the whole, “can’t-worry-about-what-you-can’t-control” thing.

“What we should focus on is just going out there playing as hard as we can,” guard Randy Foye said. “We give ourselves the best chance to win that way.”

Fans and members of the media may already have reached for the “panic button” following Wednesday’s loss to Denver.

But the Jazz? They apparently don’t even know where it is.

“You can’t really talk about hitting the panic button because there’s no panic yet,” Foye said. “I just feel as though you have to keep on going out there, grinding and playing ball. There’s still a lot of time.”

“Like I said before, we’ve been in this situation for the last 25 games,” Foye added. “We could have hit the panic button when we were down, I think it was 2 games, almost 2 1/2 games, but we stayed together, we rallied, we won five in a row.”

Foye admitted, the Jazz “let one slip” against Denver, but said the team clearly understands what is at stake.

“The main focus for us is staying together and playing hard,” he said.

Much of what Foye and his teammates said Friday morning may be considered typical sports cliches. But what are they supposed to do? Say something like, “It’s time to give up,” or “At this point, we’re all just focused on our contracts.”

Yeah, that’s not gonna happen.

First of all, the players really do want to win, really do what to make the playoffs. Secondly, even if a player stopped uttering cliches and frankly admitted he’d given up hope, he’d be roundly vilified for being a little too honest.

Basically, they can’t win … in the court of public opinion, that is. So they focus on winning on the basketball court.

And that means staying away from the dreaded panic button.

“We’ve stuck together through everything,” point guard Mo Williams said. “That shows our character. Everybody in the world thought we were down-and-out, we found a way to resurrect ourselves. We always find a way to come up big, get wins and go on a streak.”

If the Jazz really are going to make the postseason, they’ll need to start a new winning streak beginning tonight.

But it’s definitely a possibility tonight when they play host to the Denver Nuggets at EnergySolutions Arena.

Utah (39-36) come in on a five-game winning streak, each of the five a seemingly must-have contest. As the regular-season winds down, the Jazz are tied with the L.A. Lakers for the No. 8 spot in the Western Conference playoff bracket, however, because they have the head-to-head tiebreaker over L.A., they own the post outright.

In order to keep it, all they have to do is keep winning. But that won’t be an easy task against a Denver team that went 13-2 last month.

Currently, the Nuggets (50-24) have the No. 3 position in the West playoff chase. Although they won’t have starting point guard Ty Lawson available (Plantar fascia tear), they’re still a remarkably solid team.

“I think at the beginning (of March) Ty Lawson was playing at an incredibly high level, I thought was playing (as) one of the top five point guards in basketball,” coach George Karl said. “I thought we were riding his momentum, but our bench as been extremely good, I think our bigs are underrated and I really think our defense is underrated.”

Denver is averaging 105.6 points per game, while allowing 101. The Nuggets are 8-2 in their last 10 games; they are 17-21 on the road this season.

The Jazz have averaged 98.6 points per game this season, while allowing 98.7. However, during the five-game win streak, they’re averaging 108.6 points and shooting 52 percent from the field.

They’re 28-9 on their home floor.

The Nuggets will go with former University of Utah All-American Andre Miller as their starting point guard.

Miller, 37, has averaged 13.4 points and 6.7 assists in 42 career games vs. the Jazz.

“We’ll be a little better offensively, five-on-five, as a team with Andre,” Karl said. “Andre, he’ll get you some lobs, he’ll get you some backdoors, he’ll get you some cute stuff.”

Tied for the No. 8 spot in the Western Conference playoff race, Utah can not only win its season-high fifth in a row tonight, the Jazz can gain ground on the L.A. Lakers, who have the night off.

The Jazz and Lakers are tied for the No. 8 in the West, but Utah (38-36) holds the head-to-head tiebreaker.

With eight games left to play, the Jazz simply have to win as many games as possible. Including tonight’s game, they play five of their last eight at home, where 27-9 this season.

“We’re fighting to get into the playoffs and that’s what it feels like,” said guard Randy Foye, who went 8-for-9 from behind the 3-point line in last Saturday’s home victory over Brooklyn.

“We’ve got to go out there and do what we do,” he added. “We really can’t worry about anything that (the Blazers) are doing.”

The Jazz beat Portland 105-95 on the road last Friday.

Point guard Mo Williams scored 26 of his 28 points in the second half of that game. He and former Weber State star Damian Lillard put on an offensive show against one another.

Lillard finished with 24 points and seven assists for Portland (33-40).

“He’s a terrific basketball player, I love his game,” Williams said of Lillard. “I’m a big, big, big, big, big fan of his game. I’m going to love him mature, love to see him grow. But we’re desperate tonight. It’s not about me and him.”

All five Utah starters are averaging double digits, including Williams, who comes in averaging 12.6 points and 6.3 assists per contest. Center Al Jefferson averages a team-best 17.4 points per game.

Jefferson was named the Western Conference’s Player of the Week on Monday. He averaged 19.8 points, 8.3 rebounds, 2.2 steals and and 1.5 blocked shots in helping the Jazz win four straight last week.

Portland is without All-Star power forward LaMarcus Aldridge (sprained ankle), who has missed three in a row.

Lillard averages 19 points and 6.5 assists per game.

Portland has lost four in a row.

None.

“I have the utmost respect for DWill and the player he is,” Hayward said Monday, following the Jazz’s shootaround at EnergySolutions Arena.

The Jazz will play host to the Portland Trail Blazers tonight in a critical game for Utah’s playoff hopes.

The Jazz (38-36) currently own the No. 8 spot in the Western Conference playoff chase. Including last Saturday’s victory over Williams and the Brooklyn Nets in Salt Lake City, the Jazz are on a four-game winning streak.

Williams, who played for the Jazz from 2005-2011, and Hayward had a playful exchange during that game.

At one point during the first half Williams was coasting in for a layup when Hayward caught him from behind, reached across his body and blocked the shot.

Seconds later, while the clock was stopped for free throws, Williams approached Hayward with a wry smile and a few words.

“I told him he knew he held me,” Williams explained. “He knew he held me with his off hand.”

Williams later added: “It was a good block. I told him it was a good block. I knew he was a shot-blocker, I should have (pulled up).”

Williams, who crossed paths with Hayward as members of the 2010-11 Jazz. DWill was Utah’s veteran point guard, an All-Star, and Hayward was just a rookie from Butler, darling of the 2010 NCAA Tournament.

During Utah’s first home game that season, a loss to the Phoenix Suns, Williams and Hayward got crossed up on a play. Frustrated, Williams fired the ball hard at Hayward, who drove to the basket and scored anyway.

Williams later apologized for being so demonstrative and Hayward it wasn’t a big deal in his mind. Still, the two seemed to be linked by that play.

“Jazz fans still talk about me yelling at him,” Williams said after last week’s 116-107 loss. “Gordon’s cool though. I like him a lot as a player. It’s fun to go up against him. He’s going to be a special player.”

Williams and Hayward do have a few things in common, not the least of which is being well-known for their play in the NCAA Tournament.

DWill led Illinois on an entertaining run to the 2005 finals, which ended in a loss to North Carolina.

Hayward led Butler on an improbable journey to the 2010 finals, which concluded with a heartbreaking loss to Duke.

Each went on to be a Jazz lottery pick a few months later. Utah took Williams with the No. 3 pick in June of 2005. Hayward was selected with the No. 9 pick in 2010.