Bomb threat in Key Arena forces fans to leave quickly

SEATTLE — Police officials in Seattle were forced to quickly evacuate Key Arena shortly after the Jazz's loss to the Sonics on Sunday night because a bomb threat was phoned in to the arena.

Sonics officials thought the threat was a crank, but the building was cleared so it could be thoroughly swept.

Jazz were players still showering and conducting postgame interviews when word of the threat spread. The team left the arena without further incident for its postgame charter flight back to Salt Lake City, a spokeswoman said.

Most media members, in addition to all members of the Sonics public-relations staff, exited shortly after police officers ordered them to leave.

PARTING SHOTS: Carlos Arroyo had interesting comments for Detroit media Saturday, shortly before his first game with the Pistons.

The Jazz dealt their former starting point guard Friday for veteran center Elden Campbell and a lottery-protected 2006 first-round draft choice that slides to 2007 if the Pistons fail to make the '06 playoffs.

"It was a very difficult time for me," Arroyo, speaking of this season in Utah, said in Sunday's Detroit News. "But it was a learning experience. I learned that tough times don't last, but tough people do. I also learned that it is easy to get down on yourself. It's easy to be negative and to quit. Only tough people survive."

Arroyo also suggested he looked forward to playing for Pistons head coach Larry Brown, whom the News called "notoriously tough on point guards."

Said Arroyo: "I had a tough coach (Jerry Sloan) in Utah who was very tough on everybody. I have been through that army before. Larry Brown is a great coach and he is going to help me a lot."

MORE ARROYO: According to Sunday's Akron Beacon Journal, the Cleveland Cavaliers spoke to the Jazz "about swapping Eric Snow for . . . Arroyo."

The Beacon Journal also reported that "the Pistons and the Cavaliers talked about Campbell earlier this season, but Detroit wanted Sasha Pavlovic and the Cavaliers weren't willing to do that."

Pavlovic is the former Jazz first-round draft choice left unprotected in last year's NBA Expansion Draft. He was claimed by Charlotte, then dealt to Cleveland.

One other tie that binds: Snow, a classy guard who recently got sideways with Cavs coach Paul Silas, attended the same high Ohio high school (Canton's McKinley High) as Jazz starting point Keith McLeod. McLeod now owns the starting job that once belonged to Arroyo, who last month got sideways with Sloan.

ADIOS SAN JUAN: Earlier this season, the Jazz were planning an October 2005 preseason game against Miami in Arroyo's native Puerto Rico. Friday, a Jazz spokesman said that game is no longer in the works.