Jazz not defensive in Delta Center win

One might wonder why Jerry Sloan was questioning the Jazz's defensive intensity in a first quarter they dominated 23-10.

So in the aftermath of Utah's 97-80 win over the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday night at the Delta Center, he explained.

"This," Sloan said of what he perceived to be lax defense on the part of the Jazz starters, "is one of the reasons we can't win on the road."

But they sure have been getting away with it at home.

Behind 19 points from starting point guard Carlos Arroyo, 15 from reserve guard Raja Bell, 11 from backup point Raul Lopez, 13 rebounds from Greg Ostertag and a 10-point, 10-board double-double with seven assists from Andrei Kirilenko, the Jazz improved to 20-17 overall — and 16-3 at the Delta Center, which marks more home victories than every team in the NBA except Sacramento and the Los Angeles Lakers.

But it's Utah's 4-14 record away from home — only Phoenix and Cleveland have fewer road wins so this season — that seemed to be weighing heaviest on Sloan's mind Tuesday.

And, as he sees it, it's all because of that lousy 'd'.

"Well," Sloan said, "we got off to a really good start — and it was because they missed shots.

"It wasn't," he added, "because of our defense."

Make no mistake, that's the same postgame message Sloan hammered home in the Jazz lockerroom.

"We need to step up our defense," Arroyo said after making six of his 12 shots and dishing another four assists. "I think we did that in the second half.

"I thought we did a great job in the second half," he added, "of helping each other out."

Yet the Warriors — despite the physical exhaustion of losing a double-overtime game to Memphis on Monday night, and the mental exhaustion of not arriving in foggy Salt Lake until about noontime Tuesday — hung tough, despite it all.

Kirilenko could not seem to understand how — "They don't want to play, actually," he said. "I see that. That's my opinion — they look like they don't want to play." — but they did.

In fact, with just more than seven minutes to go, after ex-Jazz guard Calbert Cheaney converted a reverse layup for his only basket of the night, what had been a 17-point Utah advantage had been trimmed all the way to five, 81-76.

For that, the Jazz had no one to blame but themselves.