94 feet of inexplicable stuff

DALLAS – Some lingering leftovers after the Jazz’s win Sunday at New Orleans and heading into Wednesday night’s game at Dallas …

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They played impressively, and purposefully, against playoff-bound New Orleans.
But they were abysmal in critical Northwest Division losses last week at Portland and Denver, not to mention Friday night’s stunning home loss to Minnesota.
Asked today to explain the evidently inexplicable, Jazz center Mehmet Okur was among those who simply could not.
“I don’t know why we didn’t do it against Portland or Denver,” he said.

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Speaking of explaining the inexplicable, Jazz coach Jerry Sloan was asked prior to practice today why he thought his team has struggled to win against the Mavericks at American Airlines Center.
There, Utah is 2-12 all-time vs. Dallas.
Sloan was at, uh, a loss.
“I don’t know,” he said with a glance at the AAC floor. “It’s 94 feet.”

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In Wednesday’s paper, the Jazz discuss the prospect of finishing eighth in the NBA’s Western Conference.
But there is a flip offering to Wednesday night’s Avoid the Lakers Bowl, which is what the Jazz-Mavs meeting amounts to – with neither wanting to wind up eighth in the West and having to face a Los Angeles club that small forward C.J. Miles says is “rolling.”
The B side is the Lakers, waiting and wondering who’ll they face when postseason play gets underway.
“There’s a lot of stuff going on that has to play out its own scenario,” Lakers Coach Phil Jackson told the Los Angeles Times. “We’re watching it.”
“We talk about it, but just in passing, as a conversation, who’s in the eighth seed right now,” Kobe Bryant added, according to the Times. “But that’s subject to change. If we knew for sure who we were playing, that makes the coaching staff’s job a little bit easier.”
For now, the Lakers reportedly are scouting and prepping for the possibility of Dallas, Utah and New Orleans.

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