Scared. Intimidated. 'Fraidy cats.
Jerry Sloan, always one to call things like he sees it, was blunt in his assessment of the Jazz after they fell 100-93 to Sacramento on Friday night, marking the Kings' 10th victory in their last 11 regular-season meetings with Utah.
"Quite frankly," Sloan said, "I thought we might cry a time or two."
That, Sloan suggested, is because the Jazz felt they were bullied by the Kings, who were called for just 18 personal fouls while the home team was tagged with 29.
"They made us feel sorry for ourselves with simple basketball play," said Sloan, who afterward was kicking himself with not sticking late in the game with reserve big man Ben Handlogten, whose 13 points and six rebounds in 13 second-half minutes were the main reason Utah was even in it at the end.
"They just took advantage of us," Sloan added, "because we started to feel sorry for ourselves."
While maintaining he was not personally intimidated, Jazz captain Matt Harpring seemed to understand the charge his coach made.
"This is the NBA," Harpring said. "We've got to grow up, we've got to play, we've got to play hard."
"We've got to step up and play against teams like that," teammate Raja Bell added.
The Kings whacked the Jazz at will, with center Vlade Divac even bloodying the nose of center Greg Ostertag.
Ostertag did continue playing, a wad of gauze shoved up one nostril to stem the bleeding.
In the end, though, it was the most pacifistic of play that won it for the Kings.
After Jazz forward Andrei Kirilenko missed two free throws that would have tied the game at 89 with one minute and 22 seconds to go — Kirilenko also missed a big free throw late in the fourth quarter of an overtime road loss at Houston last week — Sacramento got the job done at the line.
The Kings knocked down 9-of-10 freebies in the game's final 52.1 seconds, negating Kirilenko's late 3-pointer and an ensuing basket-and-freebie from Harpring.
Down the stretch, Brad Miller knocked down two; Bobby Jackson, who scored 22 points off the bench, made 1-of-2; and Peja Stojakovic, who finished with 24 points, hit 6-of-6 in the final 21.2 seconds.
With that and a game-high 25 points from starting point guard Mike Bibby, Sacramento improved to 15-5.
The Jazz, meanwhile, fell to 12-10 overall and 11-3 at the Delta Center as they prepare to embark on a six-game Eastern road swing that begins Sunday night in Philadelphia.
"We've got to get rolling," said Harpring, whose 13 points put him in a group of six Jazz players in double figures, topped by Bell's 17. "It starts with Philly. We need to go there, play with a lot of energy, play with a lot of confidence, and play like we know how to play."
In other words, don't play like most of them seemed to Friday.
Intimidated, Sloan would suggest.
NOTES: Carlos Arroyo played his first game after missing eight straight with a re-sprained left ankle. Arroyo started at the point for the Jazz and finished with four assists and two points on 1-of-4 shooting in 16 minutes . . . Raul Lopez, who had been starting in Arroyo's absence, played 28 minutes and finished with seven assists and seven points . . . Friday's announced attendance of 19,678 was a few hundred shy of a sellout, but it still marked the Jazz's highest attendance at the Delta Center so far this season . . . University of Utah head coach Rick Majerus was on hand for second-half play at the Delta Center, sitting alongside his agent, David Falk. Also sitting nearby: Utes head football coach Urban Meyer.
E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com