The Utah Jazz have been struggling on the road recently. Luckily for them, they haven't lost too much ground in their battle for home-court advantage in the playoffs and won't have to contend with too many more road games.

Following their last lengthy road trip of the season, the Jazz return to Salt Lake City on Saturday to face the Seattle SuperSonics.

Utah (48-27) lost three of four on its road trip, falling 94-89 to the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday and then dropping a 107-103 decision to the Sacramento Kings on Friday.

Jerry Sloan's team had a 17-point lead midway through the third quarter, but the Kings went on a 9-0 run to start the fourth quarter and outscored the Jazz 32-21 in the final period. Mehmet Okur led Utah with 24 points while Carlos Boozeradded 17 and six rebounds.

"To make a long story short, we couldn't stop them in the fourth quarter," Sloan said. "We had the ball a couple of times coming down the stretch there to finish the ballgame and we weren't able to. I thought they got whatever they wanted every possession."

The team also was forced to play shorthanded in the second half after starting point guard Deron Williams suffered a strained groin and starting forward Andrei Kirilenko injured his left thumb. Williams is listed as questionable for Saturday while Kirilenko's status is unknown.

Utah has lost eight of its last nine road games to fall to 19-20 away from home.

"It seems like every loss is a little different on the road," said Matt Harpring, who had 14 points Friday.

Despite their struggles on the road, the Jazz have maintained a 1 1/2-game lead over the Houston Rockets in the Western Conference standings for the fourth seed thanks to the Rockets losing three straight.

The two teams will likely meet in the first round of the playoffs, with the No. 4 seed having home-court advantage during the series.

Utah plays five of its final seven games at home, where it is 29-7. The Jazz have won seven straight at EnergySolutions Arena and 13 of their last 14.

This is the fourth meeting between Utah and Seattle (30-46), which won a 122-114 overtime matchup on Jan. 12 after dropping the first two contests of the season.

Seattle comes in having lost four straight, including a 112-109 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday. Chris Wilcox scored a career-high 32 points and had 18 rebounds to help Seattle lead for much of the game, but Rashard Lewis was held to just nine points - more than 13 below his season average of 22.3 - and Kobe Bryant hit several crucial shots in the fourth quarter, including a 19-footer with 1:41 left that gave the Lakers the lead for good.

Starting point guard Luke Ridnour left the game late in the first quarter with a sprained ankle. His status for Saturday is unknown.

"We put ourselves in position to win the game but we lost another player," Seattle coach Bob Hill said. "Think we can lose anyone else? I hope not. I don't know if I've ever seen anything like it."

The Sonics are just 10-27 on the road, where they play four of their final six games.