"I know I'm not the most popular forward in the West," the Jazz's power forward said with a laugh, so he had no intention of sitting nervously and awaiting the voters' verdict. Probably a good thing, since Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan pretty much wiped out the competition in the balloting for All-Star Game starters, each gathering five times as many votes as Utah's top candidate.

But Boozer hopes he doesn't have to sweat out next Thursday's announcement of the Western Conference reserves, to be chosen by the conference's 15 coaches, either. "I think I have a good chance," he said of his All-Star prospects. "We'll see what the coaches think."

It's hard to imagine, even in a crowded field of talented forwards, that the leading scorer and rebounder from a first-place team could be passed over. Boozer is one of three players to rank among the NBA's top 15 in both scoring (he's 15th at 22.5 points per game) and rebounding (fourth at 11.9), some pretty strong All-Star credentials, especially in light of the Jazz's 28-15 record.

"I think this is the best I've played since I've been in the NBA," said the fifth-year pro. "We're playing well enough to have two or three [All-Stars], but I know there are a lot of good candidates. I hope the coaches want to have a representative and I'd really like to be it. That's definitely a goal I set for myself this season."

He's fairly certain he would not have been as strong a candidate if not for Deron Williams. The point guard has taken charge of the Jazz's offense, and Williams-to-Boozer has become a tough-to-stop combination.

"I was talking to one of my coaches from the past about the guards I've played with, and I told him how much different it is," Boozer said. "When you play with a bad point guard, your team is probably pretty bad. You play with a good point guard, your team is usually pretty good. You play with a great point guard, your team has a chance to be pretty great."

Last-second woes

The Jazz have lost at the buzzer three times this season - on shots by Stephon Marbury, Gilbert Arenas and by Eddie Jones' 20-footer on Wednesday - but the stunning losses should have no carryover effect, coach Jerry Sloan said.

So far, he's been right this season. The Jazz won their next games following the losses in New York and Washington.

Besides, the coach said, having a victory snatched away doesn't hurt him as much as blowout losses.

"In some cases, we played pretty well, but just didn't play well enough at the end to win," he said. "But if you lose [in a rout], now that's tough for me to take. Why aren't we competitive?"

Briefly

Matt Harpring was suffering from a bad cold Thursday, but said it wouldn't keep him from practicing or playing against the Nuggets tonight. . . . A few Jazz staff members insisted that Chucky Atkins stepped on the sideline before shooting his game-tying three-pointer with 8.5 seconds left in regulation, but when Sloan complained, referees told him that his heel was off the ground and not touching it. Sloan wouldn't comment on the play. . . . Andrei Kirilenko on the Allen Iverson-Carmelo Anthony Nuggets: "Don't forget about guys like [Marcus] Camby, J.R. Smith. When you talk about guys like Iverson and Melo, you forget about those guys. Nene, Steve Blake, Reggie Evans - those guys really make a difference. Those guys hustle big-time."

pmiller@sltrib.com