Sloan uses a plethora of point guards to win

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — When the Jazz's most recent opponent paired a rookie point guard with a vet late in the game, as Charlotte did playing Raymond Felton and Brevin Knight together in the backcourt Monday night, it was a risky move by a desperate team.

"They say a drowning man will grab a razor blade," Bobcats coach Bernie Bickerstaff said.

When the Jazz did just the same, playing Deron Williams and Milt Palacio together for much of the fourth quarter and all of overtime in Utah's eventual 95-91 win, it was purely by design — a tactical decision by a coach juggling three points and hoping he grabs the right one, or two as the case may be, at the right time.

To wit, here's the rotation pattern developing for Jazz point guards early on this season:

Jerry Sloan starts Keith McLeod, and brings in rookie Deron Williams to spell him either late in the first quarter or at the start of the second in each of the 3-1 Jazz's first four games so far.

Unless Williams is in early foul trouble, veteran journeyman Milt Palacio sits and watches.

Such was the case Monday.

At the start of the second half, McLeod starts again. Williams subs in for him again, in Monday's instance very late in the third quarter.

Palacio still sits, still watches.

At some point in the fourth, Palacio comes off the bench — quite cold, as it happened in Charlotte — and joins Williams in the backcourt.

It's not necessarily an ideal way to get Palacio in the game, Sloan readily attests.

"It's tough," the Jazz coach said. "But he's a veteran player. He's got some toughness about him, to be able to step out there and get the ball where you want to go."

That's why Sloan stuck with what he did Monday, even as the move encountered roadblocks.

When Palacio entered for the first time in Charlotte with five minutes and 50 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, Utah was up eight at 79-71. By the 3:07 mark, a short span in which Palacio picked up two quick fouls and the Bobcats went on a 10-1 run, Charlotte was ahead 81-80.

"They brought in Palacio," Bickerstaff said later, "so that was a good thing for us."

Sloan, meanwhile, admitted having second thoughts.