Jazz push win streak to 4 games

They're much like a cranky car in single-degree temperatures, with the going a bit slow and off before each piston fires — or fires up a shot, in this case.

Once everything under the hood finally gets settled and working like it did in the Jazz's 106-91 win over Minnesota on Monday night, though, the ride isn't half-bad.

"We kind of had a bad start," coach Jerry Sloan said. But, he added after 28-14 Utah won for the fourth straight time to erase the memories of a four-game losing skid that preceded its current streak, "We had a real good finish, because I thought we executed pretty well."

Did they ever, especially down the stretch in the opening outing of a three-game homestand.

After the 20-20 Timberwolves crept from 18 down late in the third quarter to just six behind on a couple occasions with more than six minutes still remaining, the Jazz answered both times, first with Andrei Kirilenko banking in a short fadeaway and then with 28-point team-high scorer Mehmet Okur knocking down one of his four 3-pointers to make it 90-81.

After Okur missed a trey try on his ensuing possession, however, Sloan used a timeout with 5:54 to offer a friendly reminder to his club about how he prefers inside-out play.

"I just said, 'I'd like to know where you're going or where you're headed. Are you going to continue to shoot outside shots, or are you going to try to make them guard us inside some?' " the Jazz coach said.

It's a message that apparently doesn't always get through: "I don't yell very loud anymore," Sloan said. "I guess my voice is trickling away to where they can't hear."

The last time it was delivered Monday, though, it evidently came through loud and clear.

"I don't know if what I said made any difference," Sloan said, "but we finally got the ball inside a couple times."

Indeed they did, with 21-point, 15-assist double-double man Deron Williams going to Carlos Boozer on Utah's first possession after the timeout for a layup that put the Jazz up 11.

And after Boozer followed two Okur free throws with another layup that made it 100-87 remaining, the Jazz were well on their way to beating the 'Wolves — who got 32 points from Ricky Davis, but only 17 from All-Star Kevin Garnett — for the fourth time in their last five meetings.

Yet they insisted on doing it the hard way, failing to produce a point on their first five possessions of the first quarter, their first six of the third quarter and six of their first seven in the fourth.

Why so hard to get things started?

Everybody needing to get off a shot before settling in to run the offense, perhaps?

"That could be a little of it," Williams said.