Slowing down Bryant one tough task

Tonight's task: dealing with Kobe Bryant.

It's no small one, and the Jazz readily acknowledge as much.

"We just have to try to guard him, try to contain him," Jazz point Deron Williams said. "You never stop him."

Williams is an advocate of using help defense — "a lot more help" — on the Los Angeles Lakers star than the Jazz did in their first meeting this season, when Bryant dropped 33 points in a 119-109 L.A. win back on Nov. 4.

Yet he knows even that plan is potentially problematic.

"He's got good shooters around him," Williams said. "He's got guys who can knock down shots, so it's kind of pick-your-poison."

Jazz power forward Carlos Boozer has similar mixed emotions.

"Hopefully we can give him some better looks — you know, we trap him a little bit more," Boozer of Bryant, one of just three players — along with leader LeBron James and No. 3 Tracy McGrady — averaging more points than him heading into Thursday's NBA games. "Sometimes we don't trap players early enough to where they already get into their rhythm. Maybe we'll come out the game trapping him, just to throw him off a little bit."

But, Boozer added, "C'mon, he's probably the best offensive player in the game. He's seen every defense out there. But if we execute it the way we can execute it, and rotate, hopefully we have a good chance against him."

Jerry Sloan, meanwhile, seems less inclined to utilize too much too early of the approach his two co-captains advocate.

"Of course, he's a tremendous player to try to play against," the Jazz coach said.

"We just have to try to play," added Sloan, who is likely to use both small forward Andrei Kirilenko and shooting guard Ronnie Brewer on Bryant. "You know, when we scatter ourselves out running all over the place, it really opens itself for a lot of easy baskets."

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