From Deseret News archives:

With Jazz starters logging bulk of minutes, Sloan mulls how to balance sub time

Published: Friday, Nov. 16, 2007 10:35 a.m. MST
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CLEVELAND — Four of five Jazz starters logged at least 37 minutes in the Jazz's win at Toronto on Wednesday, and two of the five — point guard Deron Williams and small forward Andrei Kirilenko — both surpassed the 40-minute mark.

The other of the five, center Mehmet Okur, played 31 minutes.

All five — Williams, Kirilenko, Okur, Carlos Boozer and Ronnie Brewer — have averaged at least 29 minutes during Utah's first nine games of the season, topped by Williams at 38.2 heading into tonight's visit with LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The point?

It doesn't leave a whole lot of playing time for the rest of the 7-2 Jazz's lineup, and coach Jerry Sloan knows it.

"That's most difficult," Sloan, speaking after the Jazz's morning shootaround Friday, said of balancing minutes with the need to win. "You can't play everybody."

No Jazz sub, in fact, is averaging more than 20 minutes, and only three — Paul Millsap, Gordan Giricek and Matt Harpring — are averaging double-digit minutes.

Down at the end of the bench, No. 3 point guard Ronnie Price and rookie reserve shooting guard Morris Almond both are averaging less than three minutes per game — with neither appearing in more than Price's five games so far this season.

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NOTES: Backup small forward and ex-Cavalier Harpring, who missed Wednesday's victory at Toronto due to an apparent stomach virus, took part in Friday's morning shootaround and plans to play tonight ... This will be the Jazz's second game against the Cavaliers in 10 days. Utah won the first meeting 103-101 after Williams' length-of-the-floor drive at EnergySolutions Arena ... Williams averaged 22.5 points in two games against the Cavs last season ... Ex-Cav Boozer takes a team-leading 25.9 points-per-game scoring average into tonight's play. In two games against his old club last season, the Jazz's starting power forward averaged 19.0 points and 7.0 rebounds ... The Jazz have lost three straight in Cleveland. Their last win here: March 19, 2004.


E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com

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