With 14 games left, each one will impact the Utah Jazz and their playoff seeding in the upcoming Western Conference playoffs.

But a significant few of the remaining games could have more of an impact than the others, like tonight's contest in Phoenix.

While the Jazz are running out of time to overtake Dallas and Denver for a No. 2 or No. 3 seed, it's still possible.

If they can't catch the Mavericks and/or the Nuggets, however, their focus will shift to holding onto fourth place, which would earn them a home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

That's why the game in Phoenix is so critical.

At 44-24, Utah holds a two-game lead over Oklahoma City and Phoenix, which share fifth place, just ahead of No. 7 San Antonio.

With a victory, the Jazz would inch further ahead of the Thunder and possibly end Phoenix's hopes of catching them, since it would also give them a 3-0 lead in the season series.

Seemingly, Utah enjoys a slight scheduling edge over its rivals for playoff positioning in the final four weeks of the regular season:

» The Jazz have 14 games left, including six at home, eight on the road and six against playoff-bound teams.

» The Suns have 14 games left, including six at home, eight on the road and seven against playoff-bound teams.

» The Thunder have 16 games left, including eight at home, eight on the road and nine against playoff-bound teams.

» The Spurs have 16 games left, including seven at home, nine on the road and 10 against playoff-bound teams.

» The Trail Blazers have 13 games left, including six at home, seven on the road and seven against playoff-bound teams.

The game at Phoenix ends a rugged stretch for Utah. It will be the Jazz's 13th on the road during a 20-game stretch since Feb. 9.

"It's tough on this team," coach Jerry Sloan said. "All the stuff you can imagine that they've gone through and they're still playing. ... They've had a lot of tough things to overcome, but they are trying to [keep it] together."

Just two weeks ago, the Jazz scored one of their most improbable victories of the season at US Airways Center.

The Suns controlled most of the game and led 98-86 early in the fourth quarter. But Deron Williams, Memo Okur and the Jazz closed with a 30-10 run that gave them a 116-108 win.

Spicing things up for the rematch, perhaps, was a late flagrant foul on Phoenix center Robin Lopez.

After Andrei Kirilenko intercepted Lopez's pass and went in for a dunk, Lopez shoved him from behind and sent the Jazz forward flying over a row of photographers and into the first row of fans.

"To me, A.K. could have gotten tore up pretty nice," Carlos Boozer said at the time. "But he's an agile player."

Lopez was called for a grade-1 flagrant foul, which was later upgraded to a flagrant 2 by the NBA.

"I thought it was a non-basketball play, and that bothered us," said general manager Kevin O'Connor.

Said Sloan: "You just don't want to see a player get hurt."

The loss was a rare one for the Suns, who are 16-5 in their past 21 games, including a 152-114 victory over Minnesota on Tuesday.

Phoenix's point total was the highest in the NBA this season.

The Suns became the first team in 38 seasons to score at least 35 points in every quarter.

The Jazz may or may not be healthy as they start down the stretch of the regular season.

The availability of Wesley Matthews, Kirilenko and Williams -- 60 percent of the starting lineup -- won't be known until game time.

Williams had an MRI exam Thursday confirming he is suffering a bruised left shoulder. Williams also sustained a mild left ankle sprain in Wednesday's game.

Kirilenko is questionable after reaggravating a strained left calf that kept him out of two games before his return Wednesday.

Matthews is a game-time decision with a sprained left knee.

luhm@sltrib.com