Jazz finish out tough road trip with win over Hawks

ATLANTA — For the Jazz, an adventure that started last Tuesday night in Charlotte and concluded Saturday night at Atlanta was a scouting mission of sorts.

How would Jerry Sloan's young club react to playing four road games in five nights? How would they handle it when things did not go their way? Could they really keep up their winning ways?

The coach, and inquiring minds, wanted to know.

When all was done, and Utah had beaten Atlanta 92-79 to split the trip 2-2 and improve to 7-3 overall on the also-young 2003-04 NBA season, the report had more positives than negatives.

The Jazz won one they probably should not have in Charlotte. They lost one they deserved to in Orlando. The lost one they probably should not have in Miami. And they won one they deserved to in Atlanta.

All in all, there was more reason for Sloan to exult than be down.

"I was glad to see how they kind of perked their ears up, and went after it, and went and won the ballgame," the Jazz coach said. "That's important for them. That's important for their progress, and hopefully they learn from that, and realize the next game they get into, when things get a little tough, they can bow their neck and go after it again.

"Those are good lessons for you," he added, "when you're trying to play as a team."

Which is precisely the way the Jazz played against the 2-7 Hawks.

The Jazz's scoring again was quite balanced, with birthday boy Carlos Boozer (he turned 23 Saturday) leading the way with 20 points and big man Mehmet Okur adding 18 off the bench.

Several sources offered something a little extra, like Boozer adding 11 rebounds for his team-leading fifth double-double of the season, Carlos Arroyo dishing eight assists and Okur pulling down eight boards to boot.

Then there was do-it-all All-Star Andrei Kirilenko, whose 14 rebounds, 11 points, seven blocks and seven assists left him just three swats and three dishes shy of a quadruple-double.

"He was sensational the way he was up in the air," Sloan said Kirilenko. "He was like a rope all night."

Kudos also went out from the coach to Okur, who played 28 minutes and shot 5-of-8 from the field.

"Memo had a good game," he said. "I was glad to see him give us something, because our center position really struggled some. I mean, those guys have to give us a lift."

Also on the receiving end of high praise was Boozer, who finished the trip averaging 26 points in four outings during the week.

"Carlos is keeping us alive," Arroyo said, "and he's doing the best he can to help us win some games."