SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Jazz’s locker room was, as you might expect, a pretty happy place Wednesday night.

Players were smiling in the Rose Garden. They were eagerly answering reporters’ questions about red-hot shooting, postseason positioning and their overall effort. They were laughing and joking with each other.

But another attitude prevailed inside of that pleasant place.

With a week to go in the season, the Jazz have fought, scraped and overcome obstacles to get themselves into a sweet position in which their own play will determine their fate.

In the next seven days, it doesn’t matter what fellow postseason wannabes Phoenix and Houston do.

If the Jazz win their next three games — all at home — against the Magic, Suns and Blazers, they’ll earn a playoff spot. It’s that simple. if Utah can up its current record of 33-30 to 36-30 in games in which it will be favored, second-year coach Tyrone Corbin and crew will be pitted against either San Antonio or Oklahoma City for a first-round matchup.

If they lose even one of their next three contests, however, they could be lottery-bound.

But they’re in a position not many thought they would be coming into this condensed season, which was supposed to be a rebuilding bridge to the future.

That’s why Wednesday’s post-game celebration of a blowout win over Portland that helped vault the Jazz into the enviable no. 8 spot in the Western Conference was a bit restrained.

After sitting out last year, the Jazz want to be in the playoffs again next weekend.

And there’s work to be done to get there.

“It’s not about being in with three games to go. It’s about being in when the last buzzer goes off at the last game,” Jazz center Al Jefferson said. “So you know it’s there for us. we just got to continue to take care of business. We’ve got three games left and we’ve got to win all three of them. That’s what we’ve got to do.”

Let that soak in for a moment.

Just a year after the organization seemed to be headed to lottery limbo for who knew how long — following the resignation of Hall of Fame coach Jerry Sloan, the trading of star Deron Williams and the historically bad second-half collapse — this franchise is only three wins away from securing its 25th trip to the playoffs since 1984.

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