Millsap overcomes jitters in first start

PHOENIX — With Carlos Boozer missing his third straight game with a hairline fracture in his fibula bone, Jazz coach Jerry Sloan gave rookie Paul Millsap his first start of the season Saturday night.

Millsap, just a second-round draft choice last June, admitted to jitters over the assignment of dealing with Suns All-Star Amare Stoudemire in Utah's 108-105 win over Phoenix.

"I was a little nervous, but tried to get over it," said Millsap, who battled a bit of foul trouble and wound up with eight points and six rebounds in 25 minutes. "Coach told me to get over (it)."

Sloan was happy with the way he did.

"He might have had (butterflies) a little bit, but that's OK," Sloan said. "He knows that that's another experience for him. He was in there battling, and that's what this game is about. I didn't have a problem with the way he played.

"He had a couple fouls, but not all that was his fault. There should have been somebody on a couple of them to help him, and he didn't get the kind of help that he needed."

Sloan made the move — benching veteran Jarron Collins, whose speed is not best-suited to facing the high-flying Suns — in large part as a reward for Millsap.

"He's never had a chance to start in this league," the Jazz coach said, "and I think he's earned that opportunity.

"He keeps growing and growing, and I think the more minutes we can get him has helped him, and we need to continue to try to do that. Because there are a lot of games we wouldn't have won if he hadn't helped us as much as he did. If a guy can do that, then he deserves to play more minutes."

As for whether Sloan will start that way Monday vs. Chicago, the verdict remains out.

"I don't know," he said.

"We discuss all those guys every day — about how we think maybe it can make us better."

HE SAID IT: Sloan, on point guard Deron Williams' 28 points and 10 assists vs. two-time NBA MVP Steve Nash: "I don't think he's trying to beat Nash or anything like that. Nash is too great of a player, and he knows that, and everybody else knows that. But he's trying to get better every day, and I think he's doing that."

MISC.: Ex-Jazz guard Raja Bell did not play because of swelling in his left knee, so Leandro Barbosa started in his place at shooting guard for the Suns. ... Utah has now won four straight over Phoenix. ... The win improves Sloan's personal record vs. the Suns to 42-41, leaving San Antonio and Indiana as the only two teams against which he has losing records as an NBA coach. ... Mehmet Okur's double-double Saturday was his 14th of the season and Williams' was his 10th.

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