A couple weeks ago it looked like time to write the Jazz obit, the one lamenting the fact that for the first time since the 1985-86 season, Stockton-to-Malone wouldn't be in the playoffs.

Then came a four-game winning streak, capped by a late run past the Mavericks, and it looked like here we go again, we wrote off the elders too soon.

But now ...

NBA reality says the Jazz are in a jam, fighting for the eighth playoff slot, now winning less than half their games. Reality says most teams above them are not likely, barring catastrophic injuries, to begin losing games at a greater percentage then they are right now. Reality suggests the lottery could loom.