Moore delayed by weather

Help is on the way.

When it will arrive, however, remains uncertain.

As suspected, the Jazz plan to sign 7-foot big man Mikki Moore to a 10-day contract, basketball operations senior vice president Kevin O'Connor confirmed Monday.

But Moore apparently has had trouble catching a flight out of Roanoke, Va., where weather woes have wreaked havoc with air travel in the region.

"He's weather-delayed," O'Connor said Monday night.

Moore, who had been playing for Roanoke of the NBDL, was to have left either Sunday night or early Monday, but he did not make it to Utah in time to watch the Jazz's Monday-night win over the Los Angeles Clippers.

"We hope to do it (today)," O'Connor.

With an average of 9.0 boards and 21.0 points over 14 games, Moore is the leading-rebounder and second-leading scorer in the NBDL.

The University of Nebraska product has played parts or all of six seasons in the NBA, including four with Detroit and four games for the New Jersey Nets before being released earlier this season.

FIGHTING WORDS: Released by the Minnesota Timberwolves in December and signed by Lucentum Alicante of the Spanish League this month, ex-Jazz swingman Quincy Lewis vows to continue trying to return to the NBA.

"I'll only give up on trying to get in the NBA when I give up on basketball," Lewis, who played first three NBA seasons in Utah after being selected in the first round of the 1999 draft, recently told HoopsHype.com. "I will continue trying to make it in the league.

"Europe is my second option. I've enjoyed my stay here. It' been a lot of fun," added Lewis, who played last season in Israel. "It's all about finding a good situation. . . . Some day I may get in a bad situation, but in that case you just have to fight. In life, you have to fight."

MISC.: The Jazz played Monday night without reserve guard Mo Williams, out with a sprained ankle. He is listed as "day-to-day." . . . The Jazz's Raja Bell and the Clippers' Marko Jaric drew double-technicals in the fourth quarter; Jaric was ejected because it was his second technical of the game, but Bell stayed because it was only his first. . . . With Williams out and center Paul Grant waived Sunday, the Jazz won with just nine healthy players Monday.

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E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com