Business as usual: Jazz starting five seem to be in mid-season form

It always does when Jerry Sloan is the coach.

But with three exhibition games still left before their Oct. 30 opener against Golden State, and just two played with everyone together, the Jazz's starting five seem well on the way to regular-season form.

Or so it appeared Wednesday in a 101-93 exhibition victory over Philadelphia at EnergySolutions Arena, where in front of an announced crowd of 18,231 four of Utah's starters scored in double figures and all five — Deron Williams, Ronnie Brewer, Andrei Kirilenko, Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur — teamed to shoot a collective 72 percent (31-of-43) from the field.

In the two quarters those five logged most of their minutes — the first and the third — Utah (now 3-2 in the preseason) won both and outscored Philly by a combined 63-39.

Boozer, appearing in just his second preseason game after missing the first three because of his son's bout with sickle cell anemia, led the way with a 17-point, 10-rebound double-double in a team-high 25 minutes.

Okur contributed 15 points, Brewer scored 14 on 7-for-9 field shooting and Williams had 12 points to go with his game-high 10 assists. Kirilenko added another nine points on 4-for-5 shooting — his only miss came on a 21-foot jumper — while dishing four assists and blocking three shots.

"We've got a lot of scorers on this team," Williams said, "and the way Ronnie (Brewer) is playing, and if A.K. (Kirilenko) asserts himself, we've got two more.

"I think scoring like that is going to be a usual thing this year," the Jazz point guard added before leaving for Albuquerque and tonight's exhibition meeting with Sacramento, "I hope it's a usual thing."

So does Sloan, who suggests point production is the least of his worries for the 2007-08 version of the Jazz.

His biggest concern, as is so often the case, remains defense — especially coming from the shooting guard position.

Brewer — who appears locked into the starter's spot at the 2, even if Sloan still is not ready to declare the job his — does not quibble with the assertion.

"I think we were a little out of sync on our defensive rotations — helping each other, relying on each other," Brewer said. "Once we get that I think we're gonna be on the same page and hit another level, and things will start clicking for us."

As for the offense, Brewer — much like Williams, and Sloan, too, for that matter — has no worries whatsoever.