No one is saying it is the reason the Jazz beat the San Antonio Spurs 91-85 Monday night.
But it certainly didn't hurt, it seems, that Karl Malone called a players-only team meeting and practice Sunday."I don't know if it was a carryover or what," Malone said. "It was just one of those things we had to do."
Coming off an embarrassing loss Friday night at Sacramento, Jazz coach Jerry Sloan gave his veteran team the weekend off from practice. But Malone, not wanting to go two days without work, and anxious, perhaps, to make a leadership statement in his role as a team captain, called the squad together for a voluntary (wink, wink) gathering on Sunday.
Malone was not certain what the response would be but was happy to see "that every guy showed up."
Whatever message there was seems to have been delivered.
"I don't know if it had anything to do with it or not," center Olden Polynice said of the Jazz's performance Monday. "We just had to come out and play hard."
That the Jazz did. And, now, Malone just hopes he doesn't have to call another 'voluntary' practice any time soon.
"We definitely missed our coaches," he joked. "Because we didn't have anybody to run the shot clocks."
ON THE MEND, ON THE TUBE: Sean Elliott was here with the Spurs. But not to play.
Elliott, a member of San Antonio's NBA-championship team last season, is working as a Spurs TV color commentator while recovering from a kidney transplant performed Aug. 16. Elliott hopes to soon rejoin the Spurs lineup, but no timetable has been set for either his recovery period or his return.