Miami ? Just because the Jazz's 12-game winning streak came to an end Wednesday against Atlanta doesn't mean the their five-game road trip has. Now the challenge for the Jazz is to avoid giving back what they gained before arriving home.
The Jazz will try to beat the Heat in Miami for the first time in six seasons Saturday, followed by the second game of a back-to-back set Sunday at Orlando. A victory in either game would give the Jazz a winning record on this trip. "We've worked hard to get where we're at," Deron Williams said. "We have everybody healthy, we're back, so we can't let one game just deflate us."
With their streak officially over, the Jazz could reflect on everything it meant to their season. They sat ninth in the Western Conference standings and out of playoff position after suffering a 116-96 loss at Golden State on Feb. 8.
Twelve wins later, the Jazz's streak enabled them to move back into contention in the conference, erasing Denver's six-game lead in the Northwest Division in the process.
"We're not going to get complacent about that," Paul Millsap said. "We feel like should be higher. We feel like we're a lot better than the guys that are ahead of us right now. But it's going to take time for us to get back up there, but we're going to do it."
The Jazz sit fourth in the conference, only a half-game behind third-place Houston, and have effectively clinched a playoff berth, with a 6 1-2-game lead over ninth-place Phoenix. If the playoffs started today, the Jazz would have home-court advantage in the first round.
"Right now, it kept us out of a hole," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said of the streak. "Let's just be honest about it. We weren't even in the playoff picture. We were right at the edge of it. These guys deserve a little bit of credit for fighting through some tough times.
"I don't want to take anything away from them. But still in all, once you put yourself in this position, you've got to be ready to go every day because everybody gets ready to play you. Everybody wants to knock you out of the box if you've got a little streak going."
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Surf and sun
For all the Jazz's recent struggles to win in Miami, Sloan wasn't concerned about his players having two off nights to enjoy South Beach before playing the Heat. The Jazz were off Thursday as they traveled from Atlanta and will practice this afternoon.
"I've had guys go lay out in the sun and play their butts off," Sloan said. "If you lose, then they say, 'Well, that sun probably had a lot to do with it.' But it all depends on what you do on the floor.
"They're grown men and hopefully they make good decisions and play well in the process."
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Briefly
Heading into Saturday's game, Miami's Dwyane Wade has averaged 37.2 points, 10.7 assists and 6.2 rebounds in six games in March. Wade, the NBA's leading scorer, is the reigning Eastern Conference Player of the Month and Player of the Week. . . .Matt Harpring didn't play in the second half of either of the Jazz's last two games.
rsiler@sltrib.com Alt Heads:
Streak over, Jazz focus on finishing road trip Jazz at Miami
Saturday, 11 a.m., FSN
