Despite his 27 points in Miami, though, Boozer could not help the Jazz beat the Heat.

Neither could Kirilenko, who was called for a debated foul — it sure looked like he blocked a piece of the ball — at the end of regulation play that led to Utah's overtime loss.

On Saturday, the subject was still on his mind.

"It's my opinion it was clean block," said Kirilenko, who did not publicly discuss the matter Friday. "In referee's opinion, no clean block. I can live with it. That's basketball, that's life."

And now it's history.

The fact he was able to put it out of his mind — just like the Jazz were able to forget about the Friday loss — was pleasing to Sloan, who watched his club stretch a five-point lead to 13 with free throws from Kirilenko, Boozer and Arroyo, along with a late Boozer layup, in the final two-plus minutes.

"It's a perfect excuse to say, 'Well, we got beat last night. We didn't get the call. We should deserve the call,' " Sloan said. "(But) we didn't win the game.

"Are you going to cry about that for three days and forget to play today? That was the most thing that happened: We went ahead and played, and tried to do the job, and then (went) home."

Finally.

But it wasn't just the fact they headed back to Utah, where the Jazz begin a three-game homestand Monday night vs. New Orleans, that had everyone so happy.

Rather, it was the way they arrived.

"We're a better team today than we were a couple weeks ago — and we're going to get a lot better," Arroyo said. "As long as we execute and play as a team, we're going to be alright."

"We're getting better every night," Okur added, "and we know each other much better now."

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E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com