Jazz share the ball in home victory over Bucks

John Stockton was not in the house Monday night.

But at times against the Milwaukee Bucks in the Delta Center, the Utah Jazz offense began to resemble something like an offense Stockton would have directed.

In the first half of what turned out to be a 100-80 Jazz victory to break a five-game losing streak, 17 of Utah's 19 baskets had assists attached to them. Eight of the assists were by rookie point guard Deron Williams.

In the game, 28 of Utah's 36 baskets were assisted.

Williams led with 10 assists for the game. Milt Palacio had five. And everyone who played more than about two minutes, expect for Matt Harpring, had at least one assist as the Jazz made a point of sharing the ball.

"The most important thing is finding other people when they're open, and he found some people open a few more times tonight," said Jazz coach Jerry Sloan about Williams.

They were more open because players set and held screens and did the other little things Sloan wants. And they held the turnovers to just 14 as teamwork took over.

And a merry time was had by all in Jazz uniforms.

"That's the way we have to play each night," said guard Gordan Giricek, Utah's top scorer with 18 plus two assists. "It's more fun when you share the ball and then everybody is involved and everybody enjoying playing basketball. If you enjoy, you will be OK. I just hope we're going to learn.

"You get chemistry by sharing the ball and playing together," Giricek added. "We were enjoying each play."

"Coach Sloan got on the guards a little bit," said Palacio. "He got after us a little (about) sharing the ball and getting guys the ball when they're open. I think that's one thing we concentrated on tonight, getting out and running and executing."

"You know what's crazy? In practice, coach Sloan is big on getting 'game shots,' " Palacio explained, talking about the kind of plays where defenders are bumping and jostling, and so he simulates those conditions, and Palacio said that helped.

"We just swung the ball over to the side and found who was wide open and made easy baskets," said Mehmet Okur. "We've got to play this way every night. Every game is an experience for us.

"It's much easier, especially when they play good defense, if we swing the ball and underneath is wide open. Do not keep the ball like five or six seconds. We should create something."

Kris Humphries, who had 10 rebounds and two assists after Sloan had complained about his selfishness a day before, said he was unaware of the criticism, but he said, "Any time you look at the assists-to-baskets ratio and it's close like that, it's good. I think everyone is happy. When things break down the natural instinct of people is, 'I gotta fix it.' "

But Monday's teamwork kept all happy. "Yeah, you know if you cut to the basket, you're going to get the ball, and we have a better chance of winning," Humphries added.

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E-mail: lham@desnews.com