Jazz return to scene of collapse

SAN ANTONIO — When last seen here, point guard Deron Williams stood in front of a locker and pointed at his heart — and by extension questioned the commitment of certain teammates.

"Guys need to figure out," Williams was saying then, "what's right here.

"Some guys," he added at the time, "it seems they don't play to win sometimes."

When last heard here, power forward Carlos Boozer was wholeheartedly backing the very point Williams had just made.

"I will never say anything negative directly to a teammate because I love my team, and I believe in that code," Boozer said in a more formal setting, at a table with a microphone in front of him. "But we need guys that are always going to give everything they have. Like I told (Williams), we need guys that have a championship vision. When you have your vacation plans already, that's not a championship vision."

Names were never uttered, but it wasn't long before widespread public speculation centered on Andrei Kirilenko, Mehmet Okur and Gordan Giricek as the chief aim of such sharp barbs.

Utah had just been eliminated from the Western Conference finals by the eventual NBA-champion San Antonio Spurs, ending yet another in a long string of devastating nights in this city for the Jazz.

Emotions were ratcheted, especially for leaders like Williams and Boozer.

True feelings, however harsh, were shared.

Flash forward six months or so later.

The beach is a blast from the past, vacations are concluded and the Jazz are off to a 13-6 start heading into tonight's ESPN-televised meeting with the Spurs.

"What was said is said," Williams said Thursday, "and that's over with, and I think everybody's put it behind us."

"A lot" of what was said, Williams added, stemmed from frustration after being beat so badly — 4-1 in a best-of-seven series, 109-84 in a blowout Game 5 — in a locale where the Jazz have struggled so much.

Utah has lost 16 consecutive regular-season games here, 19 straight including the playoffs. Last Jazz win in San Antonio: Feb. 28, 1999, when now-retired Karl Malone scored 30 points in the Spurs' former home at the Alamadome.

For those counting at home, that's eight long seasons ago.