Harpring walking fine line with repaired right knee

Franchise officials are known to be lobbying local government officials to name a Salt Lake City road after Malone, much like a stretch of downtown street near the Delta Center named after John Stockton.

Precisely which road it will be remains to be seen. "That's actually up to the city," Jazz owner Larry H. Miller said. Miller has not filed a formal application for the street name change with the planning division of Salt Lake City, the division said Tuesday.

No word yet on plans for Adrian Dantley Avenue.

SOMETHING TO IT? Last week, ex-Utah forward Scott Padgett told the Newark Star-Ledger the layup-favoring Jazz cheat by over-inflating balls to make it more difficult for jump-shot shooting opponents.

Jazz officials laughed.

But now the conspiracy theory has steam.

According to Tuesday's Detroit News, "Before (a) game in Utah last month, (Pistons point) Chauncey Billups argued with the officials to change the game ball. He didn't like the feel of it — too slick and too bouncy. The referees refused. . . . Told of Padgett's claim, Billups nodded and said, 'He's right.' Several other Pistons agreed."

The Jazz, incidentally, are 14-2 at home vs. Detroit since the 1989-90 season.

GOOD QUESTION: The San Antonio Express-News earlier this week asked ex-San Antonio and current Utah guard Devin Brown what it called "one of the NBA's most vexing questions . . . Jerry Sloan or Gregg Popovich: Who yells the loudest?"

Brown danced around the query, but his answer still was classic: "It's not the yelling, it's the language," he said, laughing. "Pop is an angel compared to what goes on around here."

Brown also noted similarities between Sloan and Popovich.

One: "They both want to win and they want that in all of their players." Another: "They don't understand when we come to practice sometimes and say we're tired. That just burns them up."

MISC.: Kirilenko grabbed 10 rebounds vs. the Spurs, including the 2,000th of his five-season career — leaving him just a few shy of Malone's franchise-record 14,601. . . . Monday's loss was Utah's first this season when McLeod plays 25 or more minutes; previously, they were 4-0 in that situation. . . . Jazz forward Carlos Boozer, out all season with a hamstring strain, did not practice again Tuesday.

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E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com