Jerry Sloan has previously mused that playing on back-to-back nights shouldn't be all that difficult for pros to do. After all, unlike college students, they don't have to attend lectures by professors, worry about book reports or do anything but concentrate on playing hoops.
No school to bother with, in other words. Maybe the Jazz coach should start assigning some homework and longer study hall sessions.
The reason: Including Wednesday night's 108-99 loss in Houston, the Jazz are now 1-8 on the second night of back-to-back games.
While algebra quizzes likely aren't the answer, that statistic is all the more alarming because Utah has 11 more sets of contests on consecutive nights left in their final 38 games.
Making it more bothersome is the fact that nine of those quick travel turnarounds happen on the road -- including this Sunday at Denver -- where winning has been as challenging for Utah to do this year as complex calculus. The Jazz are 8-14 away from the Beehive State and 1-6 in Day 2 on the road.
"We've just got to be better," said Jazz backup guard Kyle Korver. "It's part of the game."
A "tough" part about back-to-backs, he added, but something they've got to improve on if the 25-18 Jazz hope to become a Western Conference playoff contender.
"I think we've got to play all 48 minutes consistent Basketball," Jazz center Mehmet Okur said. "(Play) the same level of Basketball and hopefully we're going to be fine."
That's not an easy task, considering their experiences are usually similar to the most recent one. The Jazz arrived at the their Houston hotel at about 3 a.m. Wednesday after beating Minnesota on Tuesday night and traveling three hours from Utah.
After that came a late-morning meeting, some downtime in the afternoon and a game Wednesday night against a fresh team that rested the previous day at home.
Glass-half-full types can be encouraged about Utah's tough home matchup against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday by one aspect of how the Jazz fare in the NBA's version of doubleheaders. Utah has a 7-2 record on the opening night of back-to-backs.
BLAME SLOAN?: Know all those injuries that have plagued the Jazz this year and made them miss 111 man-games?
In a tongue-in-cheek way, Sloan sorta, kinda admitted he's the culprit after being told by Houston media that Rockets coach Rick Adelman thought Sloan was doing his best coaching job ever.
"Is that right? I don't know about that," Sloan said, laughing off the compliment. "I've hurt a lot of guys. ... We can't keep them healthy.
"He's in the same boat," Sloan said of Adelman and the Rockets. "I don't know what he's doing to them either."
The Rockets played Wednesday without stars Tracy McGrady and Ron Artest and have lost 77 man-games to injuries and illnesses.
RESPECTFUL FOE: The Rockets have twice beaten the Jazz, who are battling to stay in the eight-team playoff race. But Yao Ming, for one, doesn't consider Utah out of the thick of things in the West by any stretch.
"With Utah you really have to give them credit," he said. "They are a very strong team and they are very disciplined."
Yao was sympathetic to the Jazz playing without Carlos Boozer and Andrei Kirilenko and hinted things might change later this year.
"The playoffs are going to be another story," said Yao, whose team was eliminated in the first round by the Jazz the past two years. "The game is different and the speed is different. The contact is more physical."
MAYBE NOT MIAMI: According to the (Miami Herald) newspaper, "The Heat is receptive to trading (Shawn) Marion for a productive player whose contract runs through 2009-10 because:
1) Carlos Boozer, the top impending free agent, is no longer viewed as the ideal fit here, with Udonis Haslem and Michael Beasley at power forward (and)
2) Even if Miami kept Marion and didn't re-sign him, it would have less than $10 million in cap space this summer, not enough for Boozer anyway." Contributing: Tim Buckley
E-MAIL: jody@desnews.com
