Fans crossing the line

The coach of the Jazz reveals he threatened to have an unruly Rockets fan ejected in Houston. Two Golden State players have said they heard a racial slur directed at them in Utah. Two Jazz players say their own family members — one wife, one mom — were subjected to verbal mistreatment in Oakland.

What in the name of bad behavior is going on here?

One can only wonder as the NBA playoffs progress, tension intensifies and at least some spectators toss courtesy and common sense out the window.

"There certainly are times for excitement and anxiety for fans, but ... the game is still the thing to me," said Jerry Sloan, whose Jazz head into tonight's Game 5 one victory away from beating Golden State in the Western Conference semifinal series and advancing to face either San Antonio or Phoenix in the conference finals.

"It's not about the fans, it's not about coaches," Sloan added. "We all get kind of carried away sometimes. But it's not about us. It's about the players playing well, and letting fans enjoy it."

Eleven games into the Jazz's first trip to the postseason since 2003, that notion somehow seems lost amid the insanity.

Take the case of Sloan.

More often than not, the hard-of-hearing Jazz coach has no idea what fans are yelling. But every once in a while, someone's voice wedges its way into his head.

Sloan was simply going about his business in Utah's first-round playoff series this season, trying to help his club advance to the next round, when he couldn't help but hear that one rather obnoxious fellow.

"In the Houston series, some guy jumped up and started to get in my face a little bit," said Sloan, who's been known to pepper his own language with a shake of spice now and then. "I said, 'You better sit down, because I'll have you removed from the game.'

"He really wasn't malicious, but I thought he was gonna get that way," Sloan added. "He got a little personal with me, and I said, 'Listen, I'll have you out of the building real quick if you want to carry this on.'"

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Sloan is the first to acknowledge he is no saint — once suspended seven games by the NBA, after all, for bumping a referee while coaching a Jazz game in Sacramento.

Back in his playing days with the Chicago Bulls, he went out of his way to confront a fan.