"When he walked out the door, I have no control," Sloan said, adding, "We could have dropped down a great deal, but I thought we held in there and played pretty well because of guys wanting to try to make themselves better."
With Fisher having been booed in his return to EnergySolutions Arena on Nov. 30, Carlos Boozer and Deron Williams both defended their former teammate, saying he left for the right reasons to care for his infant daughter, stricken with a rare form of eye cancer.
"It's not like he just didn't want to be on this team," Williams said. "He had more important things to take care of. His family's more important, his daughter's more important. I think they're more booing him because he's a Laker than because of anything."
Second best
Having been snubbed for the All-Star Game for two consecutive years, Williams took satisfaction in being selected to the all-NBA second team. The other members of the second team were Dirk Nowitzki, Tim Duncan, Amare Stoudemire and Steve Nash.
"It meant a lot," Williams said. "I think that's more important than an All-Star, because it's what you do over the course of a season and it has to do with your team's success. I'm definitely honored to be on that team and happy about it."
As far as being an All-Star versus all-NBA, Williams said: "It's the whole season. It's not just the first two months of the season and there's not as much politics involved."
Crying foul
With the Lakers having shot a combined 89 free throws in Games 1 and 2, Sloan has registered a few quiet complaints about the officiating in recent days.
Talking about Kobe Bryant, Sloan said at Friday's pregame shootaround: "He's had pretty much a free rein because it's a non-contact sport when you guard him."
"You see Ronnie [Brewer] get a couple fouls," Sloan added, "he becomes so conservative and so concerned that he's going to come out of the ballgame and that's a hard thing to overcome."
Both Houston's Rick Adelman and the Lakers' Phil Jackson have complained about the Jazz's physical play, but Sloan said he wouldn't take as public a stance. "That's what other teams like to hear," Sloan said. "They like to hear you say those things."
Job opening
Jazz general manager Kevin O'Connor said he would wait until after the playoffs to make a decision about replacing Troy Weaver, the Jazz's director of player personnel who was hired as Seattle's assistant general manager Thursday.
"I think if he wants to get to where he can sit in the hot seat, so to speak, it was a great move," O'Connor said, calling it an "across the board" promotion for Weaver.
Along with Walt Perrin, the Jazz's vice president of player personnel, Weaver played a lead role in advance of the NBA Draft. Perrin said he and O'Connor would have to do more work as far as conducting interviews for player background checks with Weaver gone.
