NO PLAYOFFS: Much of the Jazz team is keenly aware that its recent woes, losing nine of its last 12 games, has put it into ninth place in the Western Conference — not a position to make the playoffs if the season ended now. That has definitely caught their attention.

"Yeah, I definitely think we've got to put together some wins," said point guard Deron Williams. "If you look at the standings — it's hard not to — and we see if the season ended today, we wouldn't be in the playoffs. We're third in our division.

"I don't think anybody expected that. I don't think we expected that. And we want to get back to the top."

"It's time for us to start winning games so we can get back in the playoffs," added Carlos Boozer. "Fight our way back into it and then maintain it for the rest of the season."

"Right now we're out of the playoff picture," said Sloan. "We're aware of that.

"We have to see who we are, how we fight back and see if all the things that people talked about before were a factor — if being on the road all that time was a factor. We're at home we'll see if things change over in our favor. It won't change over until we do some things — we have to be able to make some shots. We have to be able to defend. You've got to make shots at tough times. Make good plays."

FINGER POPPIN' TIME: Ronnie Brewer got his left pinky finger tangled up with Devean George with 4:16 left in the third quarter, dislocating the finger and sending him up the tunnel to get it put back into place. He returned to the game at 8:25 of the fourth quarter and said it was OK.

"I've had it before," he said. "C.J. (Miles) did it to me last year. Same finger, almost the same exact play."

FINDING MEMO: Mehmet Okur said he "just can't wait" to get back playing before Wednesday's game. He had missed seven games with an injured shoulder and said he'd never had to sit out like that before in his career. "It's not me," he said. He played Wednesday and had nine points and six rebounds in nearly 41 minutes, most of any Jazz player other than Williams (42:11).

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