The 16-16 Jazz woke up Wednesday morning and found themselves atop the NBA's Northwest Division, tied with Minnesota at .500 but with two more wins than the 14-14 Timberwolves.

That fact, though, hardly seemed to impress coach Jerry Sloan, whose Jazz have won five straight after beating the Los Angeles Lakers 90-80 on Tuesday night at the Delta Center.

"That will figure itself out at the end of the year," Sloan said of the standings, which saw Minnesota move back to first in the Northwest with a 91-78 win over Dallas on Wednesday night.

"My (main) concern," he added, "is how we're playing, and how we continue to play to get better."

What does impress Sloan, though, is how the Jazz have gone from 11-16 to 16-16 in less than two weeks.

Last season, after all, the Jazz also were 11-16 after 27 games. By the time a nine-game losing streak had come to a close, they were 11-24 — and far, far out of playoff contention.

"This has been pretty difficult, to get to this point, in a lot of ways," Sloan said Wednesday, prior to an off-day practice for a team that does not play again until a four-game trip that opens Friday at Memphis. "People think it's pretty easy, but it's pretty difficult.

"A year ago, (we) just kept going farther and farther down. They didn't step up and try to make a change. At least (this season) we've fought back. We were 11-21 a year ago — and the next game didn't matter, probably. . . . This team, they've show their willingness to try to fight back and stay in there competing."

SLOAN DEFENDS WEISS: Sloan was disappointed to learn that on Tuesday division-foe Seattle fired his former Chicago Bulls teammate, Bob Weiss, who just the past offseason succeeded current Portland coach Nate McMillian as head coach of the Sonics.

"I was disappointed he only got 30 games to try to prove he can coach," said Sloan, who is in his 18th season as Jazz head coach — tenured longer with the same team than any coach or manager in America's four major pro sports leagues. "But that's the nature of this business. That's how difficult it is. You think things are going along pretty well, and you lose four or five games, you're right back in that hole again — and those thoughts (of a coaching change) have to step out there in everybody's mind, regardless of who you or where you are.