Utah Jazz won 2 games on ref's betting list

BOISE — Two Jazz games during the 2006-07 NBA seasons were among 17 on which the league believes imprisoned referee Tim Donaghy placed bets, according to a report issued Thursday that addresses officiating concerns stemming from the Donaghy gambling affair.

The Jazz won both games — one at Denver on Jan. 7, 2007, and the other against Atlanta on Feb.12 of the same year — but the report suggests there is no belief that Donaghy manipulated the results of those two or any others.

No other referees were implicated in the report, a fact that came as no surprise to Jazz coach Jerry Sloan.

"I didn't think there would be," Sloan said Thursday. "That's just my personal opinion. And fortunately there wasn't.

"We don't need that (problem)," he added, "because we don't always have a positive image."

Officials from 14 teams were contacted during preparation of the report.

Jazz general manager Kevin O'Connor on Thursday would not say if anyone from the franchise was among that group, but he did say the team "cooperated in every way, shape or form that we were supposed to."

O'Connor suggested he was comfortable with the report's assessments.

"It's good to get it behind us," he said.

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E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com

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