Reserve deserving of credit

MINNEAPOLIS — Double-doubles by both power forward Carlos Boozer and point guard Deron Williams sure helped. So did center Mehmet Okur's second-half defense on Memphis Grizzlies star Pau Gasol.

But the real reason the Jazz were able to overcome a 16-point first-quarter deficit and roll over Memphis on Wednesday night, coach Jerry Sloan suggested, was the off-the-bench play of veteran small forward Matt Harpring.

"We wouldn't have been in the ballgame at all if he hadn't had a terrific first half," Sloan said after Harpring finished with a team-high and season-high 25 points, including 15 on 5-of-8 shooting from the field before halftime.

It's not exactly the first time, though, that Harpring — a former starter who played a reserve role in all 57 games this season — has helped bail the Jazz out.

Actually, it's been happening quite a bit lately — a testament not only to the health of Harpring but also his penchant for persistence.

"That's one of the differences in our ballclub from a year ago," said Sloan, whose 38-19 Jazz are well on track to make the playoffs after missing out on postseason play the past three years.

Harpring, whose minutes last season frequently were limited as he worked to overcome a second microfracture surgery on the same knee, went into the Memphis game averaging 10.8 points per outing.

But he has five 20-plus-point games this season — including two in the Jazz's last four games.

In each of Utah's five games since the league's mid-February All-Star Game break, in fact, the fifth-season Jazz forward and ninth-season NBA vet has scored at least 13.

He also has one point-rebound double-double in that span, and hit all 11 of his free-throw attempts against the Grizzlies.

"Point blank, the last three or four games — he's been killing," said Boozer, the Jazz's leading scorer and rebounder this season. "You get that kind of production off the bench, that's incredible. He's been playing like that since the break, and if we continue that with him, we're gonna be pretty good."

It's a way to play Sloan wishes others would more frequently follow.