Harpring still playing hard

To one degree or another, a 25-54 season has been taxing for everyone with the Jazz.

Matt Harpring, however, counts himself high on the list of those who have been tormented the most.

"It's very stressful, if you care about your job," the Jazz co-captain said. "I mean, it's the low of the lows. It doesn't get worse than losing 50-some-odd games.

"It's stressful. There's no other word for it."

Game days, off days — Harpring seems to feel the pain around the clock.

"I mean, you come to practice, and morale is usually down a little bit," he said. "You've got a game, and you know you're not playing for the playoffs, and other teams are."

Teams like San Antonio, whom the Jazz beat on Wednesday — a two-point victory that came with plenty of excitement but little satisfaction, since Utah is merely counting the number of games that remain before its regular season concludes Wednesday at Golden State.

That tally, for the record, is down to four.

Teams, too, like Minnesota, which isn't far from being just like Utah — on the outside of the NBA playoff picture looking in. The Timberwolves' slim hopes rest on winning their final four games, including tonight's vs. the Jazz, and on Memphis losing each of its last four.

"You know, (the postseason) is what we play for. That's what you work all offseason for," said Harpring, whose most recent offseason was spent rehabbing from knee surgery that cut his 2003-04 season short. "That's why I get down. I felt like I rehabbed so hard this summer. I wanted to get back. And I got back, but then we have this kind of the season where we're not going to the playoffs, so it's just a letdown.

"But things for the future, I think, will be different," he added. "You know, I don't think it's going to be this way next year."

Yet it has been this season, a happenstance Harpring never would have imagined last October.

"I thought we'd have 50 wins this year," he said. "In fact, I remember during training camp that's what everyone started talking about — 'Could this be a 50-win year?'

"I was like, 'Definitely, yeah.' But, for a lot of reasons, that didn't turn out."

Injuries, chemistry problems and a lack of commitment to Jazz coach Jerry Sloan's time-proven proven system all have taken a toll.