DALLAS — Why not sooner?
That was Devin Brown's first reaction when he looked at the Jazz's schedule for this season and saw that Utah's first game at San Antonio was not until tonight — the Jazz's final road game of 41.
The reason for his anxiousness: Brown, who joined Utah as a free agent last offseason, decided he wanted to wait until he was in San Antonio before being presented with the NBA championship ring he won last season as a member of the Spurs.
"I thought, 'Man, that's a long time to get my ring,' " said Brown, who was born in Utah — but raised in San Antonio, where he also attended college at the University of Texas-San Antonio. "But there's nothing I could do."
Brown expects to have about 150 family members and friends on hand for the ceremony, which will be held prior to tonight's game.
That in mind, he never once was tempted to ask if he could the receive the ring any earlier.
"I'm from San Antonio," he said, "so doing it this way is the best thing."
The evening, however, will be somewhat bittersweet for Brown — who saw the Jazz's hopes for making it to the postseason this year squashed with a 111-95 loss at Dallas on Sunday.
"The playoff atmosphere," Brown said, "is like nothing else."
OW: Brown played 30 minutes Sunday despite getting whacked in the funny bone during Friday's win at Oklahoma City, an injury that initially had him quite concerned.
"My whole forearm was numb," he said. "I had never felt that before, so I didn't know what to do, or what it was."
DREAM ON: It seems that the latest thing in vogue among NBA youngsters is aspiring to play like a certain retired Jazz combo, John Stockton and Karl Malone.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, "Golden State rookies Ike Diogu and Monta Ellis enjoy playing with each other so much that Diogu already has a vision of what they can be like in the future."
"A Stockton and Malone tandem," Diogu told the Chronicle.
Replied Ellis: "We could be, but I really wouldn't do that. I'd just say Ike and Monta . . . It's great to be like Stockton and Malone, Kobe (Bryant) and Shaq (O'Neal), Scottie (Pippen) and Michael (Jordan). But it's Monta and Ike, just young guys like us trying to make a name for ourselves."
There are similar sentiments in Oklahoma City, where rookie point Chris Paul has teamed rather successfully this season with team scoring-leader David West.
"Him (West) and C.P. can be the next Stockton and Malone," Hornets big man Marc Jackson told The Oklahoman newspaper.
MISC.: Jazz reserve guard Milt Palacio sat out Sunday, his second absence in three games, due to continuing inflammation in his left knee. Palacio did dress at Oklahoma City, but did not play . . . Marquis Daniels of the Mavericks exited early with a hamstring injury on Sunday . . . Jazz radio play-by-play announcer Hot Rod Hundley returned to work Sunday after missing Friday's game to be with an ill family member in Phoenix . . . Attendance Sunday was 19,961 — Dallas' 193rd consecutive sellout.
E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com