Jazz made Nowitzki work for points

The Utah Jazz defense seemed to do a good job against the 2006 Western Conference-champion Dallas Mavericks, who had won eight of their last 10 games.

Jazzman Carlos Boozer seemed to do well defensively guarding Maverick superstar Dirk Nowitzki, who shot 1-for-5 in the first quarter of Monday night's matchup in the EnergySolutions Arena.

That's how it seemed.

But Boozer and Jazz coach Jerry Sloan had a single thought about that perception: Kobe Bryant.

Boozer simply said he tried to make Nowitzki work for what he got. He said his teammates helped well. He wouldn't acknowledge any more than that following Utah's 101-79 spanking of the Mavericks.

"They're going to be ready for us the next time we play them," Boozer said of a Jan. 9 rematch in the ESA.

It's the same kind of thing Utah's Andrei Kirilenko had said after the Los Angeles Lakers' Bryant had an off-night (27 points) against the Jazz but came back a week later in the Staples Center for 52 points and a Laker win. Kirilenko feared Bryant would explode in the next game.

"I think Andrei was honest when he was making a statement about Kobe," said Sloan Monday night. "He said, 'He'll be better next game.' He didn't do anything specific to stop the guy.

"I think Boozer would say pretty much the same thing (about Nowitzki). (He) tried to play him as well as you can knowing that you're not going to be able to stop him. We had to try to get as much of him as we could because he's capable of getting 60 points next time we play."

"I just tried to crowd him a bit, make him work for his shot," said Boozer. "They do a good job of setting a lot of screens for him. It's a different position for me to have to fight through screens. Mostly the guards do that. I just tried to work on him. He still had great numbers.

"With him, he's one of those guys that the whole team has to be aware of because what may look like a tough shot or a bad shot to y'all, he makes that a lot of the time."

Nowitzki did heat up his game from the second quarter (5-for-6) on to finish with a game-high 26 points plus 10 rebounds. But other than Anthony Johnson (10), no other Mav was in double figures.

"I got some pretty good looks," Nowitzki said. "It seemed nobody (for Dallas) wanted to play aggressive, so I just kind of took it on myself — take the shot when it's there, get to the foul line. But it just wasn't enough."

Nowitzki also acknowledged the Jazz played better than expected.

"We knew that if they could stay healthy they would be a good team, just not that good," he said.