Phoenix sprints past Utah

PHOENIX — On Tuesday, they exchanged words. On Wednesday, Jerry Sloan and Carlos Arroyo didn't even chat.

What Sloan did when his Jazz faced off with Phoenix, however, spoke volumes.

The Jazz coach benched his starting point guard for the first half in the first outing of a five-game road trip. Sloan started backup Raul Lopez instead of Arroyo, and initially played usual No. 3 Howard Eisley behind Lopez.

About an hour before Phoenix's late-starting 108-86 win over the 10-13 Jazz, Sloan wasn't sure if Arroyo would play at all.

It seemed unlikely.

That issue, though, was rendered moot when Lopez — who helped Utah to a 26-19 lead in the first quarter, a start Sloan called "terrific" — strained his right hamstring.

He did not return for the second half, and is "questionable" for Friday's game at Boston.

Arroyo was tapped to start the third quarter, one in which the 19-3 Suns - owners of the NBA's best record — watched an 11-point lead grow to 17.

Still, the message was sent.

Loud, and quite clear.

"I just think the situation (Tuesday) night," Sloan said, "warrants a little bit of attention, as to what we're trying to do here as a team - not individually."

Wednesday's lineup change was resulted from an incident during Tuesday's win over the Los Angeles Clippers: Arroyo made a two-hands-in-the-air gesture toward Sloan and the Jazz bench during third-quarter play, then traded barbs with Sloan while making his way to his seat.

Arroyo's response to the benching?

"Obviously, he has his reasons," said Arroyo, the Jazz's starter in every game he has played since the start of last season. "And he makes his own decisions, so ... this is his team."

Asked about happened Tuesday, Arroyo — who signed a four-year, $16 million contract with the Jazz last summer — shed no additional light.

"I don't know what happened," he said. "I guess whatever he told you, that's what happened."

The problem there: Sloan would not address 'what happened,' either.

"I really don't want to talk about it," he said. "I don't want to get into it, because all those things just keep adding up to something that's really not there.