Narrow losses

LOS ANGELES — The Jazz’s 108-104 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday night marked their 10th this season by five or fewer points, and their seventh by four or fewer.
This from a team which has lost just 22 times this season.
Coach Jerry Sloan was asked before Monday’s game if he allow such close defeats to weigh on him, and Sloan’s answer sounded decidedly indicative of just how he’s been able to survive for more than two decades as head coach of the same franchise.
“I realize those things, but they’ll eat you alive,” Sloan said. “They’ll make you jump off of buildings. I’ve been around too long to want to do that.
“I don’t think anybody went out on the floor with the idea ‘We want to lose this game.’ If I felt like they did, they probably wouldn’t be here. But the bottom line is you’ve got to do the best you can. You’re gonna have 10 or 15 games, when you look back at the season, (that make you think) you could have won those. Maybe less. We’ve have had some of them — and some of the other teams have had them. So you can’t worry about those things once they’re over.
“I’ve always automatically (forgotten) — because I can’t remember,” the longtime Jazz coach added. “So it’s easier for me. If you’re smart, you’re gonna drive yourself crazy.”
As honest, and as homespun, as it gets.
As usual.
(And, for the record, six of the Jazz’s 38 victories this season have been by five points or fewer.)

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