PHILADELPHIA — And after the 23rd game, in a development falling somewhere between shocking and a holiday-season miracle, Jerry Sloan was quite pleased.
Rebounding was the reason, though it has nothing to do with his club's efforts on the boards.
Rather, it is a reference to the way the Jazz — and Andrei Kirilenko in particular — bounced back from their rather disappointing play in a Friday-night loss to Sacramento.
Kirilenko finished a career-high 14 rebounds, a season-high 30 points on 9-of-12 shooting from the field, four blocks and four steals Sunday night, leading Utah to a 94-86 win over the Allen Iverson-less Philadelphia 76ers at the start of a six-game Eastern road swing for the Jazz.
"Andrei was terrific," said Sloan, the typically tough-to-please Jazz head coach.
"Things didn't go well for him the other night," Sloan added with regard to Kirilenko, whose early December struggles continued with a 5-of-13 shooting effort against the Kings on an evening he made a big turnover and missed both two 3-point attempts and two huge free throws down the stretch. "I think that's tremendous for him . . . (that) he came back and really tried to make amends. That's what's important, more so than anything else."
Beyond his 14 boards, Kirilenko's biggest contribution Sunday might have been those coming from behind the 3-point line.
The 22-year-old Russian made all three of his trey attempts, part of a 6-of-7 3-point shooting effort from the Jazz — a team known for neither 3-point proficiency nor propensity.
The biggest three of the trio came with just more than five minutes to go, extending a three-point Utah advantage to six at 82-76.
"That was a big basket for us," Sloan said. "It kind of gave us a little bit more room to spread it out."
About three minutes later Kirilenko cut into the lane and dunked home a Raja Bell pass, putting the Jazz up by 10, 86-76.
With Iverson absent — he has a hematoma, which is essentially a tumor-like mass of accumulated, coagulated blood, in his right knee — the 76ers had no real means to respond.
And Utah did all it could to see Philadelphia did not.
"I have to give them a lot of credit," Sixers coach Randy Ayers said of the Jazz. "Their movement was outstanding tonight. They did a good job of moving our bodies around the floor, and using screens."
"I think we played as a team tonight," Jazz captain Matt Harpring added. "We passed the ball — that's the key to our team. When we start playing selfishly and try to do too much out there, we're not very good. But when we play as a team, we've got a chance to beat a lot of teams."
Philly never came within closer than five points after Kirilenko's jam, as the Jazz hit 8-of-8 free throws in the final 43.8 seconds — including four from Carlos Arroyo, two from ex-Sixer Harpring and two more from ex-Sixer Bell — en route to closing a 30-23 fourth quarter.
"We had a lot of people play well," said Sloan, whose 13-10 club — now 2-7 on the road — moves on to Washington next. "Matt (Harpring) took the ball hard to the basket a few times, and got off to a good start as well."
Harpring finished with 27 points, eight of them coming from the free-throw line.
"I think he has stepped up to the next level," Kirilenko said of Harpring, the Jazz's scoring leader with a 17.3 points-per-game average. "He's a big star now, because he is consistent every game. That's what a good star is."
Yet it was the play of Kirilenko that seemed to shine most in snowy, rainy, chilly and generally dreary Philly.
"He's special," Sixers guard Eric Snow added. "He (Kirilenko) has some skills, and his length — his arms, his height (6-foot-9) - and his athletic ability, you can't teach that. He's playing well. He's playing (Karl Malone's old) power forward position, too, so he usually has a mismatch because of his quickness.
"Defensively, he's tough," Snow added. "Almost every turnover I had (three of Philadelphia's 16) he was probably the guy who got a hand on it."
And it doesn't take a clairvoyant to guess who liked that most.
"Probably as much as anything, he was alive," Sloan said of Kirilenko. "He was like a rope out there. He was all over the floor."
E-MAIL: tbuckley@desnews.com