From the throwback jerseys to the wrist bands, warmups and purple-yellow-and-green-banded tube socks, everything for the Jazz was retro Thursday night.
Even owner Larry H. Miller got into the act, dressing like we all can only hope he does just on special occasions like this.
Like, once every 25 years.
From the music blaring in the Delta Center to the price of popcorn and soda pop at the concession stands — $1 — everything really was much like it would have been for the Jazz's first season at the old Salt Palace.
Except for one thing:
The hapless 1979-80 team — its record 24-58, with little besides Adrian Dantley's 28 points per outing to rely on — probably would have lost a game like Thursday's.
The 2003-04 Jazz did not.
Utah used a 33-21 fourth quarter to beat the Miami Heat 97-85, allowing the Jazz to head home with something other than memory of the sight of Miller in a skin-tight tank top and hip-hugging short-shorts in their minds.
"He is hilarious," forward Andrei Kirilenko said of the franchise's owner.
Kirilenko's play, though — and that of the rest of the now 21-17 Jazz, for that matter — was no laughing matter for most of three quarters.
The Jazz struggled from the start, evidenced by the two-point deficit they faced at the end of the opening quarter.
"I'm concerned about the way we started off the game, the way we executed, the way we get into what we want to do," Jazz head coach Jerry Sloan said.
"We were doing a terrible job of executing," added Sloan, who was particularly miffed by the fact starting point guard Carlos Arroyo had no assists in his 18 minutes and backup Raul Lopez recorded just two in his 30. "You can't get into your offense, and where you want to go, with that kind of effort."
Kirilenko, meanwhile, was having even less of an enjoyable night.
Through the game's 36 minutes, 31 of which he played, Kirilenko had just 11 points on 3-of-12 shooting from the field.
No wonder the now 15-24 Heat were still in it, the score tied at 64 heading into the final period of play.
Though not for long.
"Obviously, we were right there going into the fourth quarter," Heat head coach Stan Van Gundy said. "And they just ripped us apart in the fourth. We could not play them on pick-and-rolls at all, and . . . they went to the zone late, and we had trouble of it."
Kirilenko — whose father, visiting from Russia, was in the stands — was the biggest beneficiary, scoring 15 of his game-high 26 points in the last quarter alone.
Kirilenko was 6-of-6 from the field in the fourth, raising his total-game shooting percentage to 50 at 9-of-18. He also hit his only free throw in the quarter, allowing him to finish 6-of-6 from the line - not to mention the game-high 12 rebounds, game-high five blocks, game-high three steals and the four assists he provided.
"I had a couple of good opportunities to shoot the ball," Kirilenko.
Two of the biggest came early in the quarter, first when he converted a Lopez-fed layup and made the free throw that followed, and then, 26 seconds later, when he hit a 3-pointer that made it 72-66 Utah.
The Jazz's advantage never fell below four after that, allowing Utah to win for the third straight time overall and the sixth consecutive time at home.
The Jazz, now 17-3 at the Delta Center, also have now won six in a row over Miami.
And to think:
They did it notwithstanding the fact they were wearing the jerseys of a team that really wasn't all that good, and despite the fact their own obviously good-natured owner gave them quite a pre-game scare.
"People just kind of lost it," guard Raja Bell said of the sight of a uniform-wearing Miller in their lockerroom. "But we got our focus back."
A retro reality the Jazz might never want to experience again.
NOTES: Sloan arrived at the Delta Center about 20 minutes before game time after flying back to Salt Lake from Indianapolis, where he accompanied his wife to see a cancer specialist. Bobbye Sloan — who sat in her usual seat, dressed in retro purple — was diagnosed last week with a malignant tumor in her pancreas. . . . Broadcast analyst and former NBA head coach Mike Fratello worked the game for Heat TV, one day after getting passed over by Lenny Wilkens for the New York Knicks' head coaching job. . . . The Houston Rockets on Thursday signed Mark Jackson, the Jazz's backup point guard to retired John Stockton a season ago. . . . Still no makeup date for last week's postponed game against Memphis.
E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com