Jazz Need More Stops, Sloan Says
There was a funny exchange between Jazz coach Jerry Sloan and the handful of reporters who attended practice on Christmas night.
It started when Rod Zundel of Channel 5 -- a good guy, by the way -- asked Sloan to name the No. 1 reason the Jazz have been struggling lately.
ìI would say defense," Sloan said. "If we defend better ... that's what gives you a chance to win day in and day out. Usually, when you are defending well and playing hard, the other stuff comes a little easier to you."
Anything else, Zundel asked?
Sloan gave Rod a strange look and said, "I thought you asked for one thing."
Everybody laughed, but Sloan's point is well-taken.
The Jazz have not consistently stopped their opponents all season, most notably at the end of close games. That's one reason they are suffered losses to sub-.500 teams like Sacramento, New York, Atlanta, Charlotte and Miami in the last three weeks.
"We've had trouble guarding people and they've made big shots on us," Sloan said. "You have to guard guys. You have to keep them in front of you and not give up a lot of lay-ups. ... Teams have been able to stop us, and how do they do that? That get up and guard you. We have to do a better job of that coming down the stretch."
Sloan hopes the three-day break between the Jazzís 104-102 loss at Miami on Saturday and tonight's game against Dallas will leave his players refreshed, not rusty or unfocused.
"We've just got to come out and play,î Sloan said. "We've had some rest -- some time away from from basketball, so let's see what happens. Weíve spent a lot of time on the road, but everybody has to do that. If thatís what caused us to not do what we have to do, then we've got to regroup. We've got a lot of home games coming up and we have to take advantage of it."
Starting with Dallas, the Jazz play 12 of their next 17 games at home.
The bad news?
Utah starts its cozy stretch against the two teams thoroughly capable of reaching the NBA Finals -- the Mavs and, on Saturday, Boston.
-- Steve Luhm
It started when Rod Zundel of Channel 5 -- a good guy, by the way -- asked Sloan to name the No. 1 reason the Jazz have been struggling lately.
ìI would say defense," Sloan said. "If we defend better ... that's what gives you a chance to win day in and day out. Usually, when you are defending well and playing hard, the other stuff comes a little easier to you."
Anything else, Zundel asked?
Sloan gave Rod a strange look and said, "I thought you asked for one thing."
Everybody laughed, but Sloan's point is well-taken.
The Jazz have not consistently stopped their opponents all season, most notably at the end of close games. That's one reason they are suffered losses to sub-.500 teams like Sacramento, New York, Atlanta, Charlotte and Miami in the last three weeks.
"We've had trouble guarding people and they've made big shots on us," Sloan said. "You have to guard guys. You have to keep them in front of you and not give up a lot of lay-ups. ... Teams have been able to stop us, and how do they do that? That get up and guard you. We have to do a better job of that coming down the stretch."
Sloan hopes the three-day break between the Jazzís 104-102 loss at Miami on Saturday and tonight's game against Dallas will leave his players refreshed, not rusty or unfocused.
"We've just got to come out and play,î Sloan said. "We've had some rest -- some time away from from basketball, so let's see what happens. Weíve spent a lot of time on the road, but everybody has to do that. If thatís what caused us to not do what we have to do, then we've got to regroup. We've got a lot of home games coming up and we have to take advantage of it."
Starting with Dallas, the Jazz play 12 of their next 17 games at home.
The bad news?
Utah starts its cozy stretch against the two teams thoroughly capable of reaching the NBA Finals -- the Mavs and, on Saturday, Boston.
-- Steve Luhm
10:36 AM
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