Jazz point-guard spot anything but settled

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — This time, Keith McLeod started. Raul Lopez did not play a lick. And Carlos Arroyo? He backed up McLeod, then finished by playing the entire fourth quarter of a game still very much on the line.

So the Jazz's point guard rotation turns — a soap opera of sorts that raises questions coach Jerry Sloan has grown weary of answering.

"Whoever is on that 'starting-lineup' sheet is out there," Sloan said before the Jazz's loss at Memphis on Monday night. "That's who I'm going to play."

So McLeod made his fifth straight start and played 26 minutes, and Arroyo — one night after he publicly lobbied for more playing time — logged 22, 10 more than Sunday night in Houston.

"I wasn't too happy about five minutes in the first half, but I have to stay ready," Arroyo said after scoring 15 points on 6-of-13 shooting from the field, including 3-of-3 from 3-point range. "I know I'm going to play, and whenever he (Sloan) calls me I have to be ready to go out there.

"But as far as playing, I'd like to play some more," he added. "I feel like I can help the team. Hopefully he (Sloan) is seeing that."

Sloan hinted before Monday's game he would go with Arroyo more in part because of Lopez's recent play, especially against the Rockets.

"I think he (Arroyo) is trying to do the right thing when he's out there," Sloan said. "I thought Raul struggled a little bit (in Houston)."

BELL MISSING: Jazz starting shooting guard Raja Bell did not play for the second time in four games due to pain and inflammation in his right knee.

Bell did play Sunday in Houston, but after shooting 0-for-4 in 18 minutes said he only hurt the team by doing so.

"I didn't force him out there," Sloan said Monday, "and I never will - him, or anybody else."

A recent MRI on Bell's knee showed no structural damage, but Bell — who did not miss a game all of last season — said he will visit a specialist when the Jazz travel later this week to Chicago.

"I know it's sore," he said. "I know it's not letting me do the things I need to do to help this team. . . . I can help by making hustle plays, but if I can't do those then I'm just not helping by being out there.