DENVER — The mountain the Utah Jazz have to climb in order to reach the summit in these playoffs — or even the second round — seems to be getting higher by the day.
Suddenly, Pike's Peak looks like a molehill.
Not only are two of the best Jazz players and starters now in Salt Lake City — Mehmet Okur (ruptured Achilles' tendon) and Andrei Kirilenko (strained calf) — having been sidelined with injuries.
But the Denver Nuggets suddenly look like the team everyone thought they might be before the season started — the one that could give the Los Angeles Lakers a run for all of the Western Conference marbles.
Jazz coach Jerry Sloan admits his undermanned team faces a monumental challenge, maybe even one of the greatest of his coaching career. Of course, he jokingly said he can't remember past yesterday.
"Yeah," he said, "but what do you do about it? Feel sorry for yourself?"
Let him answer that for you.
"You've got to play," Sloan said. "I think that's the thing that you try to instill in all of your players every time you play, every game you play, whether it's a big game or another game .... you hope they come and play, that's all."
Sloan adamantly believes playing through adversity like the Jazz are facing is "how you get better."
Utah might be down in the series and in manpower, but the Jazz are saying they're trying not to be down in the dumps over their current circumstances.
"It's a tough blow. It hurts. We lost Memo for the season," Jazz guard Wesley Matthews said. "But at the same time, for myself, I'm excited. I'm excited to see what we're made of. Our backs are against the wall a little bit."
It won't be just a little if they don't return to Utah for Games 3 and 4 with a victory tonight at the Pepsi Center.
"Everybody says you've got to steal one on the road in the playoffs and, you know, it'd be a perfect time to do it," Matthews said. "We've got A.K. out. We just lost Memo. We've got to come with it, and let's see what we're made of."
HE'S OK: Lost Sunday amid the news of Okur's ruptured Achilles' was the health of Jazz starting power forward Carlos Boozer, who didn't show any obvious signs Saturday of the strained oblique muscle that kept him out of Wednesday's costly regular-season-ending loss to Phoenix.
"It felt good," Boozer said after Saturday's game. "You know, I had a couple spots, but for the most part, I didn't think about it. I just tried to go out there and play."
Added Boozer on Sunday: "I'm ok. I'll be all right."
So, too, will Miles, who left the game Saturday for a while with nausea after smacking into Chauncey Billups. He also jammed a finger on his left, shooting hand.
"It's just a jam," Miles said. "I'm fine."
HE SAID IT: Sloan's response Sunday when asked if he had any ideas about how to slow down Carmelo Anthony after his 42-point Game 1 outing: "I've got a lot of things in my mind, but they don't work," he chuckled. "He's a pretty good player, to say the least."
POSITIVE OUTLOOK: Matt Harpring, the ex-Jazz player who is now a TV analyst for FSN-Utah and NBA-TV, is optimistic the Jazz can still make a series out of this despite not having Okur and Kirilenko.
"I thought they played good when Memo went out of the game," Harpring said. "They were playing good. They actually had the lead, so they were in the game, which is very positive. "
Harpring admitted that J.R. Smith's 18-point fourth quarter, which included an 11-point spurt, doomed Utah.
Contributing: Tim Buckley
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