Perhaps he should try passing out No-Doz before games. Or buying everyone a liter of Jolt. Or getting a Mr. Coffee Maker for the locker room. Jazz coach Jerry Sloan is having trouble keeping his team awake.
The Jazz's first game of a five-game road trip ended in a 97-95 win over Minnesota, but not without some tense moments - the kind that come after falling asleep at the wheel. After building a seemingly safe 10-point lead with 4:32 to go in the game, the Jazz proceeded to score only one point the rest of the way."I've got to figure some way to keep us alert for 48 minutes," said Sloan. "I just haven't figured it out."
Figuring out the Jazz seems to be Sloan's trial in life. They win five straight games, then drop games to Denver and Golden State. They beat San Antonio convincingly, then escape losing to the modest Timberwolves by the threads of their shorts.
"Do this against teams like Phoenix, we're in trouble," said Jazz guard Jeff Malone.
Do it against Minnesota, they're in trouble as well.
"We get a 10-point lead and then we started doing some of our customary things," said Sloan. "We started taking some bad shots, standing around."
If the Jazz faded late in the game, it wasn't because Sloan kept too quiet. The Jazz led by eight early in the second period, but saw the lead cut to two three minutes later. "I guess I did that too," said Sloan, when asked if he chewed his team out at halftime. "Because this building was shaking."
"Let's just say it affected the Richter Scale," said John Stockton.
It didn't, however, affect the Jazz to a great degree. Once back on the court, they sloshed through a close game with the Timberwolves, unable to do much to stop guard Micheal Williams, who had 12 of his game-high 29 points in the third period.
Whatever malaise the Jazz were working under for most of the game disappeared suddenly in the mid-fourth quarter when they reeled off an 11-0 run to lead by 10. But just as quickly it evaporated in a torrent of bad moves. Karl Malone, whose 31 points and 13 rebounds were both game highs, suddenly stalled - along with everyone else.
"I was able to make a lot of my shots and then suddenly they stopped," said the Mailman.
With guards Williams and Chuck Person firing away, Minnesota cut a 10-point deficit to one in two minutes. But then the Timberwolves inexplicably went cold. Utah's Tom Chambers missed from 15 feet, Williams missed from 20. The Jazz's Tyrone Corbin missed from 17 feet, Person missed from 22.
The break in the rhythm finally came after another Corbin miss. The Timberwolves guided the ball out to Williams (who had made 11 of 15 previous shots), who rose up for a jumper with 20 seconds left in the game. But Stockton sprinted in Williams' path and slapped away the shot. Or Williams' arm.
"He fouled me," said Williams. "One ref said it's not his call and the other said it's not his call."
"I personally thought he got fouled," said Minnesota coach Sidney Lowe.
"It was a pick and roll and I just kept running," said Stockton, who finished with 17 assists. "Micheal had been hurting us, and we'd tried a number of ways to stop him. I just tried to get over and threw an arm up and got part of it (the ball)."
Even so, the books weren't closed. Jeff Malone made one of two free throws for the Jazz's only point in the final minutes. "Just what we needed," joked Stockton.
The Timberwolves called time out with 10 seconds to go, then worked the ball to Williams, who passed to Christian Laettner. But rather than turn for an inside shot - as Lowe said they planned - he passed back out to Williams, whose 3-pointer was off the rim at the buzzer.
"We were trying to get Christian to make his move," said Lowe.
The win did little to settle concerns the Jazz have over their road problems. They had lost four of five road games and three straight before the scare in Minnesota.
"For us," said the Mailman, "a win is a win. One point, two points, I don't care how ugly it looks."
Which is a good thing.
GAME NOTES: Felton Spencer had six points and six rebounds in his return to Minnesota, where he played the last three seasons. He missed the Jazz's Nov. 6 win at the Target Center due to an injury . . . Walter Bond, who played collegiately at Minnesota, didn't play . . . Minnesota's Doug West was out with a rib injury . . . Sloan needs 13 victories to become the Jazz's all-time winningest coach . . . Luther Wright, who missed the team's flight to Minneapolis, dressed for the game but didn't play. The Jazz used only eight players against the Timberwolves.