Jazz beat Pacers for 12TH straight win

The Utah Jazz can definitely deal with adversity.  It hasn’t been an easy season for the Beehive State’s only professional sports team as they’ve battled through injuries and the death of long time owner Larry H. Miller.  Despite the trials, they’ve played well all year and have shifted into another gear of late to become the NBA’s hottest team.  On Tuesday night the Jazz won their 12^th straight game as the pulled away from the Indiana Pacers in the fourth quarter en route to a 112-100 victory at the Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

Utah has also won 16 of their last 18 games and hasn’t lost since Sunday, February 8^th at Golden State.  They haven’t lost on their home court at the EnergySolutions Arena in Salt Lake City since January 27^th.  With the victory tonight the Jazz surpassed their longest winning streak since 1999 and have their sights set on the franchise record winning streak of 15 games set in 1996-1997.  That team was led by a couple of ‘pretty fair’ players named John Stockton and Karl Malone, and made the NBA Finals.  Despite the recent run the team is trying to keep working hard and taking things one game at a time according to hardnosed head coach Jerry Sloan:

"I don't pay much attention to that. We'll just try to keep going day by day."

The Jazz clearly had a decent team this season, but the way they’ve ‘jelled’ over the past month is somewhat improbable.  They have finally managed to get Carlos Boozer back in the lineup after a lengthy absence due to injury where he appeared to spend more time mulling his preferred free agent destination than he did trying to rehab.  The team is glad to have him back, but owe their success more to the play of his backup Paul Milsap.  Milsap—a virtual doppelganger of a young Karl Malone who, ironically, like ‘the Mailman’ hails from Louisiana Tech—played a big role on Tuesday against Indiana with 22 points, 9 rebounds and the tough interior defense that has quickly made him a favorite among Jazz fans.

Mehmet Okur led the team in scoring with 24 points while talented young shooting guard Ronnie Brewer added 18.  Boozer and reserve Kyle Korver scored 11 each, and the balanced Jazz scoring attack gave All-Star point guard Deron Williams the opportunity to get his teammates involved as he finished with only 5 points but 12 assists.  After the game, Boozer didn’t want to talk about ‘the streak’ though he shared his coach’s ‘one day at a time’ mentality:

"Don't jinx us. We're going to set our sights high. The thing about our streak is that we've been able to take it one day at a time. Today, we had to focus on Indiana. We have confidence that we're going to win every game we play, no matter what the scenario might be. At the end of the day, we have the pieces, the confidence and the belief in each other that we're going to win the game."

The Pacers took a good shot at the Jazz and actually tied the score midway through the 4^th quarter before Utah went on a 16-4 run to close out the game.  Indiana was led by Troy Murphy’s ‘double/double’ as the former Notre Dame All American went for 23 points and 13 rebounds, also contributing 4 assists and 3 steals in an excellent all around effort.  Starting guards Jarrett Jack and TJ Ford each scored 21 points for Indiana (with Ford dealing up 9 assists and just missing his own ‘double/double’) and Roy Hibbert chipping in 12 points.  After the game, Murphy said that his team ‘beat themselves’ with porous defense down the stretch:

"They're the hottest team in the league and we just couldn't get the stops coming down the stretch. We had a good shot tonight, but we weren't able to take advantage of it."

Utah will have a tough road to 15 wins, as they play their next three games on the road against the #3, #4 and #5 teams in the Eastern Conference.  They’ll face the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday, the Miami Heat on Saturday and the Orlando Magic on Sunday before returning to Salt Lake City for a game against the Washington Wizards on Tuesday.  Indiana will play at Atlanta on Friday, at Toronto in one of their brutal early afternoon start time games on Sunday and then return home on Wednesday to face the Portland Trailblazers.