From accounts of those who were nearby early in the fourth quarter when Utah Jazz owner Larry H. Miller was standing at the end of the team bench, Miller was an angry man watching his players shoot a franchise-record low percentage of 29.3 percent from the field Monday night.
After being competitive in the first half, they lost their drive in the third quarter and were probably lucky to only lose 73-62 in the Delta Center to even their record at 4-4.
While Miller shouted at his players, even swore at them, said some in the stands, Jazz forward Mehmet Okur said Miller did offer his hand to players in the locker room afterward.
"He came in," Okur said of the postgame locker-room scene, "but he didn't say anything, He just shake everybody hands.
"It's our routine," Okur added. "Even coaches shake (players') hands after the games every time. Same thing (Monday)."
Center Greg Ostertag, one of the Jazz captains, refused comment about the incident, though he was at the very end of the bench while Miller was speaking animatedly.
Veteran forward Jarron Collins was with Ostertag. "I didn't hear Mr. Miller say anything. It's his decision to come over (to the bench). I don't want to talk about that.," he said
Miller drove out of the parking lot without acknowledging a reporter, perhaps not even noticing anyone standing there.
Guard Devin Brown said he had never experienced such an act in the NBA.
"Yeah, I was sitting right there," said Brown, signed this summer as a free agent from San Antonio, where he had spent his entire school and professional career until coming to terms with the Jazz.
"He was standing at the end of the bench. Yeah, he was very vocal in what he was talking about, but in the course of a game, you don't really pay attention to things like that," said Brown.
Asked if it was the first time he'd seen such a thing — which Miller has done before — Brown said, "Ever. Ever. I've seen it with the (NFL Dallas) Cowboys, Jerry Jones on the field, but that's my first time I've ever seen that.
Ostertag facetiously told Brown, "Yeah, tell them what Larry said."
But Brown added, "The details of it, I'll let somebody else let you know, but he was very vocal in the fact that he wants us to play harder. Just wants us to play harder."
Rookie C.J. Miles played in a regular-season game for the first time in his young career Monday, adding to the Jazz's low percentage at 1-for-7, admitting great anxiety but not noticing too much that the owner what the owner was saying.
"No, I didn't really. I couldn't really hear him," said Miles, adding, "He has a right to be upset. We didn't play as well as we could have, but (we have to) just keep our heads up and come back (tonight at Sacramento).
" I was just so anxious. I had so much energy. I was ready to explode almost," said the 18-year-old.
"It's tough because everybody's got so many wide-open looks. I think a lot of the shots we took were wide-open from penetrating and kicking or just being open, and we just couldn't knock them down."
E-mail: lham@desnews.com