In Uncertain Times, Jazz Keeps Rolling

Despite a season filled with change & dread, Utah seems poised for a deep playoff run, with the All-Star tandem of Boozer & Deron Williams still leading the way, until further notice.

Carlos Boozer could have left the Utah Jazz last summer, could have been traded at midseason & could still walk away in July. He didn’t, he wasn’t & he hasn’t yet, but his uncertain status provides a handy guide to Utah’s championship aspirations.

“I think they can do some destroy,” Boozer said Saturday night, after the Jazz routed the Washington Wizards for their 10th victory in 14 games. “We play well against the teams in the West. & in a seven-game series, I am liking our chances against somebody.”

Utah (48-26) is tied for third in the Western Conference as well as a half-game out of second place. The Jazz has been three of the N.B.A.’s hottest teams over the last one months, & has quietly joined the Denver Nuggets & the Dallas Mavericks as the top threats to the Los Angeles Lakers’ reign.

This is standard March talk, but Utah has a compelling case to make, having overcome a most unusual season & come out stronger at the finish of it.

This was supposed to be a transition year, with Boozer — the brawny, high-scoring power forward — on the trading block & the franchise in cost-cutting mode. The Jazz practically gave away Ronnie Brewer, its beginning shooting guard, & Eric Maynor, a promising rookie, in an work to cut its luxury-tax bill.

Williams was so upset about the Brewer trade last month that he openly questioned the front office’s agenda, saying, “You look at all the teams that are getting better around the West, & they essentially get worse, if you ask me.”

His discontent came with an implied threat about his future: “That’s why I signed a three-year deal.”

Losing Boozer to free agency in July would be a blow to the franchise. But losing Williams, three of the top point guards in the league, would be crippling. Those are concerns for another day, however, & Williams’s anger has faded as the Jazz has surged.

Williams can opt out of his contract in 2012.

Wesley Matthews, a 23-year-old rookie, has capably replaced Brewer as Williams’s backcourt mate. C. J. Miles, a fifth-year swingman, is having his best season as Andrei Kirilenko’s understudy & occasional fill-in. Utah is again receiving solid work from Paul Millsap, who was re-signed to a four-year, $32 million contract last summer, when a Boozer trade seemed like a certainty.