The 45-20 Utah Jazz play 11 of their last 17 regular-season games in the Delta Center, and the one tonight at 7 with the 13-52 Philadelphia 76ers (Jazz-conquerors in December) begins the longest remaining homestand.
Utah will play five straight games in the Delta Center, all but one against teams with losing records. Seven of the next nine, in fact, are at home, five against sub-.500 fare, although there's a home-and-home duet with Seattle to worry about March 30-April 2.At 26-4 at home, fourth-best in the NBA, Utah could march out of March like a lion and make up some of that 11/2-game Midwest-Division lag (with 10 wins in a row, the Spurs've gotta lose sometime, don't they?).
The game the Jazz worry most about is tonight's, of course. It's the next one, and it's the first at home after a 3-3 road swing. Players see family and friends after nine days away and devote time to them and household chores long undone. Focus can easily fall away from basketball.
"You wonder how guys will respond," said Jeff Hornacek in a radio/TV interview, adding that, "We can't afford any more losses" following the three on the road trip. The Jazz thought they should have lost no more than one or two. "We almost have to win every game and hope San Antonio slips," Hornacek said. In his last eight, Hornacek (25 points, 10-for-14 shooting Monday in a 107-90 win at Milwaukee) has averaged 19.5 points on 58 percent shooting.
While the first game home from a long trip is often a lackadaisical outing, coach Jerry Sloan has ammunition to turn the throttle up tonight. "You would have thought we would have beaten them at their place, and we didn't," recalled Adam Keefe on radio/TV Monday.
The Jazz were awful in losing 108-104 at Philly Dec. 20. Guard Trevor Ruffin bagged a career-high 32 (7-for-10 threes), and rookie swingman Jerry Stackhouse snarfed up a career-high 15 rebounds along with 18 points.
Philly was awful then, too. Now, it's on a roll (for the 76ers). Stackhouse broke a five-game slump and has had seven straight strong games, including 29, 32, 34 (tying career high), 28 and 31 points. A Sixer's scored 30 or more in four of the last six (Derrick Alston had 30 vs. Phoenix). They are coming off a relatively impressive four-point home loss to Chicago's Pippen-less, Rodman-less Bulls Monday. (Hey, the Sixers have missed Derrick Coleman for 31 games with an ankle sprain!)
"Right now, we're playing the best basketball we can play," coach John Lucas told reporters Monday. "The reality of it is, it's not good enough. We can't beat anybody when we're constantly shooting 38 percent. Stackhouse has gotten better and better. Other people have gotten better and better, but it's still not good enough." The Sixers have lost four straight.
The Jazz were gratified by recent contributions from Greg Ostertag (21 rebounds total and single-game career highs of eight rebounds, five blocks and 13 points in his last three games) and Chris Morris, 3-for-4 shooting Monday after an 11-for-43 slump. Also, Karl Malone in his last three games shot 61 percent (33-for-54), and John Stockton had two of his best assist games of the season on the trip, 17 at Charlotte, 16 at Milwaukee.