Jazz Notes: Sloan likes what Suns do By Phil Miller The Salt Lake Tribune Article Last Updated: 02/05/2007 01:36:07 AM MST Like most NBA coaches, Jerry Sloan admires the way Mike D'Antoni has shaped a frequently unstoppable offense from small-but-quick players. "Mike does a terrific job, because you can see how comfortable their team is with what they're doing," Sloan said. "They have a tremendous feel for each other. It's not easy to do." He should know. A dozen years ago, after adding Jeff Hornacek to a nucleus that already included above-average fast-break players like John Stockton, Karl Malone, David Benoit and Tom Chambers, Sloan and assistant coach Phil Johnson decided to implement a similar run-on-every-play style in hopes of countering the league's trend toward slow-down defensive teams and break the Jazz's playoff jinx. "We tried opening it up, not quite the way [the Suns] do because they have better three-point shooters, but we went to more of a running game," Sloan recalled of the fall of 1994. "We scored a lot of points and won some games [7-1] in the exhibition season. Some guys liked it, some guys didn't." When the season began, however, defenses got more serious about holding up Utah's running game, and the Jazz had difficulty scoring in the final minutes of games. Utah, which had just been to the Western Conference finals six months earlier, opened the season 2-4, and one notable part of the running game was discouraged. "John came to us and said, 'This doesn't seem to be working. We've got to switch this up,' " Sloan recalled. "We've got to find some way to give ourselves a chance to win." The Jazz went back to their patterned half-court offense and soon reeled off a 22-2 streak of success en route to their first 60-win season. "I don't know, it might have worked had we stuck with it," Sloan said. "But we seemed to win more games posting up Karl Malone than having him running and shooting jump shots on the perimeter." Briefly The Jazz had Sunday off. . . . With Saturday's win, the Jazz became the first team to beat Phoenix three times in one season since Steve Nash joined the Suns three years ago. . . . The Suns were 23-1 entering the game when Amare Stoudemire reached 20 points. He scored 28 against the Jazz. . . . The Jazz are 6-0 against Central Division teams. [email protected] http://www.sltrib.com/jazz/ci_5160043 --

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