Shoulder brush

SAN ANTONIO — Prior to Wednesday night, when they closed the 2007-08 NBA season with a 109-80 loss at San Antonio, the last time the Jazz lost by more than 14 was way back on Nov. 17.
That’s when they fell 117-97 at Indiana — their only other loss of the season by 15 or more.
The spanking from the Spurs, however, seemingly did little to discourage coach Jerry Sloan as his club heads in postseason play beginning Saturday night at Houston.
Instead, when asked if confidence had been cracked, he offered a response heard rather frequently throughout the season.
“I’m always confident — if we come and play,” Sloan said. “But if we don’t play, I mean, we aren’t gonna beat anybody.”
“We have to put a tremendous effort in to win,” he added. “That’s the way it has been all along. We have to try to outwork the other team. Sometimes we don’t, and we pay for it.”
Similarly unaffected was Jazz power forward Carlos Boozer.
“For us,” Boozer said with a gesture to accompany his words, “we’re gonna brush this off our shoulders and get ready for Houston.”