With springtime comes renewal, so the timing is perfect. The Jazz can use a little renewal right now.
   
Just two games removed from a crash landing in Cleveland, this hardly seems like an opportune time to expect the sixth-place Jazz to cement their playoff standing. Yet the signs are there -- improved play from Utah's front line, a short respite in a difficult stretch-drive schedule, and especially a playoff-style victory in Phoenix -- to suspect that Utah, less than a week after looking like a lottery team, has a giant opportunity over the next seven days.
   
Four straight home games, beginning tonight (7 p.m., FSN) against the undermanned and underwhelming L.A. Clippers, bring four straight vulnerable teams to the Delta Center -- just as Phoenix, Houston and the L.A. Lakers, the teams immediately behind the Jazz in the Western Conference standings, embark on difficult road trips to Texas and the East.
   
It may be the most pivotal week of the season; April contains plenty of challenges against the West's elite for 39-29 Utah, but if the Jazz can take care of the Clippers, Celtics, Blazers and Bucks in the next seven days, or at least win three of the four games, they could build enough of a cushion to ensure that a 20th straight playoff appearance is already secured.