This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2006, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Break up the Jazz.
That's the joke that starts making the rounds when the shockingly easy victories pile up, when the NBA's biggest surprise team improves to 7-1 for just the third time in franchise history, when the Western Conference's two best records collide and the result is a 112-90 blowout victory for the home team.
Break up the Jazz.
Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy already is getting laughs with the line. His advice after watching Utah's youngest starting lineup in history, a short-handed team missing two rotation regulars, suffocate L.A. with a blistering fourth-quarter statement? "I think they should trade Kirilenko," he deadpanned.
It's a good punchline. Not as good as the Clippers themselves, of course, the team that turned a 72-72 tie into a 94-75
deficit by going without a basket, and a clue, for 10 1/2 minutes. But the Jazz, who barely noticed that Andrei Kirilenko wasn't in uniform, got a good chuckle out of the bit.
That's because they're the team with a bunch of kids who don't know enough to be intimidated by their elders.
Mehmet Okur made Chris Kaman look like Chris Farley with a 27-point symphony, Matt Harpring collected 22 points as though in a layup drill, and Carlos Boozer rolled to another ho-hum double-double.
But check out the contributions of the kids who weren't born yet when Jerry Sloan was hired on as a Jazz assistant in 1984. Deron Williams, all of 22 years old, orchestrated the Jazz offense on that 22-3 run. Ronnie Brewer, getting his first NBA start at the age of 21, went 5-for-7 with 12 points and a pair of blocked shots.
And 21-year-old Paul Millsap? Well, he missed both of his field-goal tries, committed five fouls and scored only four points. He also may have been the Jazz's best player.
"I don't understand how a young guy like Paul Millsap gets his hands on the ball as much as he did," marveled Sloan. "He was all over the place."
Yep, reaching for rebounds over taller players. Coming from nowhere to swat away shots the way Kirilenko does when he's not grounded by injury. Dropping to the ground, grabbing a steal on his stomach and flinging passes while seated, with fallen bodies all around him.
"He changed the game," said one of Millsap's more veteran teammates - 19-year-old C.J. Miles. Millsap picked up four blocks, four steals, six rebounds and seemed to deflect every ball that came within three feet of his orbit. By the Jazz's count, he got a hand on 13 passes. "He scored only four points," Miles said, "but you always knew he was in there."
His coach, who clearly likes his team more every day, sure did.
"There are very few guys who play that way because they've been told all their lives they're supposed to score. Moms, dads, everybody told them to score," Sloan said. "I don't know who told him what. . . . But you could make a living in this league and not score a point."
He means Millsap's way, not Kaman's. The Clipper center, signed to a five-year, $52 million contract over the summer, was shredded by Okur, who outscored him 27-3 and sent him to the bench with six fouls after only 19 minutes.
That matchup offset Cuttino Mobley's 18-0 advantage over Miles, and allowed the Jazz to simply run their offense by the book in the fourth quarter and run their Delta Center record to 29-1 over the Clippers. "They played the perfect game tonight," said L.A. point guard Sam Cassell.
"We just folded," added Dunleavy, whose club got a layup from Elton Brand with 1:49 to play in the third quarter - then went without another basket until 3:22 was left in the game.
By that time, the surprisingly small crowd of 16,852 - sixth-smallest in Delta Center history - wasn't about to let the Jazz give away a big lead the way it did in Milwaukee last Saturday. That allowed the Jazz to laugh about a lot of things, including their own mistakes.
Take Deron Williams' slam dunk on a breakaway in the middle of the Jazz's big run. It was supposed to be a dunk, anyway, but Williams boinked it off the rim. Fortunately, Harpring was right behind him and tipped in the miss.
That says a lot about these all-for-one Jazz, doesn't it?
"It means he doesn't trust I'm going to make the dunk," Williams smiled.
Funny guys.
* IN SHORT: The Jazz continue to have the NBA's best record with the win over the Clippers.
* KEY MOMENT: With the game tied 72-72 and with 1:05 left in the third, Ronnie Brewer was fouled by Tim Thomas while making a layup. He made the free throw, putting the Jazz ahead for good.