Jazz close season by looking ahead

They are two games removed from playoff-contention elimination, and just one — tonight's home finale against Golden State — remains.

As much as coach Jerry Sloan might want his 40-41 Jazz to win tonight and avoid a second straight losing season, though, thoughts clearly have turned already to the season that awaits.

"I think we can compete," Sloan said when asked how he feels about Utah in 2006-07 if it is able to keep together its core group of players from 2005-06. "We've had our moments where we've played pretty well — when we can keep our concentration."

Fulfilling the qualifier, however, will be no small task.

If they stay together.

"You're never confident — because there are so many different variables, you know?" Sloan said. "Guys might come up and say they want to be traded, don't like playing here.

"We haven't had that too much," he added. "But there is nothing to say nothing like that wouldn't come up."

As it stands, injuries — and perhaps attitudes, too — prevented the Jazz from playing its primary pieces together until mid-March.

Once Deron Williams, Andrei Kirilenko, Matt Harpring, Mehmet Okur and Carlos Boozer started starting together, however, it didn't take long for Sloan to realize he had a legit NBA lineup on his hands — one that at the very least could actually create a few mismatches in their favor.

Those five are 9-7 when opening together this season, and seemed to be hitting their stride before a loss Sunday at Dallas killed their postseason hopes and an ensuing loss Monday at defending NBA-champion San Antonio put a damper on the mood of many from Utah.

"Maybe we can pick up with how we're playing now," Williams said after a string of five straight wins and 8-of-10 ended in Dallas, "at the start of next year."

Sloan hopes so, too, even if he does readily acknowledge that "there might be a little bit of fool's gold there" in a winning steak that came against teams which won't take part in the playoffs and/or were missing their best players.

Again, though, keeping the five together will be easier said than done.

Only one, Harpring, is not be under contract for next season. He will be an unrestricted free agent this summer and may or may not return.