NO BIG DEAL: Sloan seemed to think Thursday that too much was being made of forward Andrei Kirilenko playing the point during Game 2, when Deron Williams was in foul trouble, Dee Brown had sprained his neck and Derek Fisher was still on a plane coming back from New York with his ailing daughter.

"We run a lot of stuff (anyway) with Andrei handling the ball within the halfcourt set," Sloan said. "All he had to do was dribble it up with the floor."

Williams, though, was impressed — or so he'd have you believe. "I've got to watch my back now," the Jazz's starting point joked.

COLLINS WAITS: Veteran Jazz backup center Jarron Collins averaged 11.1 minutes per game during the season and 10.9 in Utah's first-round series with Houston.

He hasn't played, however, in either of the Jazz's two second-round games with the high-flying Warriors, who at times play guards at forward and forwards at center.

"I understand the situation with their substitutions — it's just not ideal for centers out there," said Collins, who played in college at nearby Stanford. "So I have to treat it as kind of a rookie-year thing, where you have to stay ready. ... I just have to look forward if my name gets called during the series — and, if not, then the next series.

"At this point in the season," he added, "I just want to win. So don't feel bad for me."

TV TALK: Because tonight's Game 3 will be carried by ESPN — not TNT or ABC — local affiliate KJZZ is contractually permitted to air the game as well.

SHEDDING LIGHT: Andrei Kirilenko is mentally gearing up for tonight's crowd that will be hostile in the Oracle. "We'll see the different crowd. Not the light blue but yellow," he said. The Warriors handed out yellow T-shirts to their fans during the first playoff series with Dallas, and the fans proudly wore them. Some even wore them in EnergySolutions Arena in Games 1 and 2. But the Jazz took the cue and put light blue Zion's Bank-sponsored T-shirts on every lower-bowl seat Wednesday, and that was effective, too.

Kirilenko said the Jazz are mentally ready for Golden State's fans rooting against them, having learned how to deal with it in their Game 7 win at Houston last Saturday. "I've already made that shift (in thinking)," he said. "You've seen how we played in Houston. You've seen the fans in Houston cheering against, but we still won the game.

"It was tough to do, but we know how to do it. Just keep concentration on the highest level. Don't relax, don't let them score easy layups, we'll be fine. Even though they score on some crazy shots, we just need to stay with our game, and we can win."