The Jazz were not nearly as demoralized after losing Monday's Game 2 in their first-round NBA playoff series with the Houston Rockets as one might suspect.

"I thought our guys played their hearts out to try to win a ball game," coach Jerry Sloan said.

"I feel confident we can get a win," veteran forward Matt Harpring added.

The question, as the Jazz head into Game 3 Thursday down 0-2 in the best-of-seven series, is how.

"We have to figure out a way," starting power forward Carlos Boozer said.

"If we can get one," starting point guard Deron Williams added, "then we can build on that."

Houston, meanwhile, isn't acting as if a 4-0 sweep is inevitable.

"This team is not going to let us relax," Rockets star Tracy McGrady said of the Jazz.

SIR CHARLES SPEAKS: TNT analyst and former NBA star Charles Barkley took Sloan's side in this week's Andrei Kirilenko crying episode.

"There's no crying in basketball," Barkley told viewers before Game 2.

"When you're mad at the coach and you're mad at yourself, you go out there and kick some butt," he added. "He's got to play better. He's got a great coach in Coach Sloan, and they need him to play well. Nobody is holding him back. He has to play better."

BOOZER SPEAKS, LOUDLY: After the TNT crew — chiefly Barkley — rode Boozer hard following his 11-point Game 1 performance, Boozer responded with a 41-point, 12-rebound double-double.

"They call you out in the studio and they tell you, 'You have to step up,"' Boozer told TNT during halftime Monday. "Charles, I heard your words, and I'm stepping up for you baby. I'm stepping up for my team."

Responded TNT's Kenny Smith: "(Boozer) should be happy we called him out. We don't call out scrubs."

BACK OFF: Being back in the playoffs for the first time since 2003 reminded Sloan just how much he does not like being surrounded by a throng of reporters.

"I don't like anybody standing behind me," he said as a crowd circled him in Houston earlier this week. "If you want to talk to me, move in front of me."

A few reporters laughed, thinking the Jazz coach was joking.

He clearly was not.

"I'm serious about that," Sloan said. "I get nervous."

ANTHONY ON JAZZ: The key for Utah's ability to bounce back against the Rockets rests with Williams, ex-NBA player Greg Anthony suggested in a posting on ESPN.com.