Outside the Delta Center Sunday, Jazz fans were autographing a long banner to give to Jeff Hornacek, thanking him for the six-plus seasons he's given them.
To even the most optimistic of them, Sunday's Game 4 looked to be Hornacek's last of his career, given the way Portland had steamrolled the Jazz by 18 or more points in each of the series' first three games. After Thursday's loss, play-by-play announcer Hot Rod Hundley was telling a Jazz TV audience to make sure to come to the Delta Center on Sunday to pay tribute to the retiring-any-day-now Hornacek.
New Hornacek T-shirts were available at the souvenir stands.
But neither Hornacek nor his teammates were thinking about any of that as they managed to stave off elimination 88-85.
The win means Hornacek's career lives on.
But that means nothing to him. He insisted he never thought of it once all day.
Asked if it made him feel good to extend the career one more game at least, he said, "Yeah, except for nobody's thinking about that. We just want to win the game. I don't go out there thinking, 'Oh, this could be my last game.' We just play, and if we win the series, great. And if we don't, then that's that. We're battling out there."
Further pressed about it, Hornacek said, "I never really think about that. When it comes to an end, it will; it's as simple as that.
"I don't think about it. We wanted to win the game. We didn't want to get swept. Hopefully we can put a little pressure on them Tuesday," said the man with the gimpy knee who may still have played his last game in the Delta Center.
His teammates were even more direct: Is the team happy the Hornacek Era was extended one more game with the win? Oh, puh-leeze! Next question.
"I'm not even going to let that come into my thoughts," said John Stockton, more focused on playing the next one and relaxing with his family.
"No, I really don't think about it," said guard Quincy Lewis.
"No, we're not thinking about that," said center Olden Polynice. "At the beginning of the season, we knew Jeff Hornacek was playing his last year, so we're not concerned about it being his last game. We're trying to do something no other team has done (win a series after being down 3-0 in games."
Only Hornacek's father admitted to even wondering about whether Sunday would be Jeff's last game. And that was only briefly. "Oh yeah, right at the end there," said the elder Hornacek about the moments when Portland had cut Utah's lead to one in the final five minutes.
Hornacek had nine points, his second-lowest total of the 2000 NBA Playoffs so far, but he also had six rebounds, his high for these playoffs. And he did a reasonably good job guarding Portland's Steve Smith, who is four inches taller, six years younger and has better knees. Smith scored 13 first-quarter points, but eight of them came as soon as Howard Eisley replaced Hornacek on the floor. And Smith, who had 18 in the first half, got only one in the second half.
E-mail: lham@desnews.com