They awoke Sunday morning ninth in the NBA's Western Conference, still not among the West's eight current playoff-position clubs.

A five-game home win streak boosted by Saturday's victory over Southeast Division-leader Orlando, however, seems to have substantially alleviated whatever postseason-picture concerns the Jazz may recently have had.

"As long as we take (care of) our business, it will take care of itself," Jazz scoring and rebounding leader Carlos Boozer said. "You know, we can't really watch the standings right now.

"We've still got a lot of basketball to be played; other teams have a lot of basketball to be played," Boozer added as the 21-17 Jazz, still not halfway through their 82-game regular season, looked to tonight's homestand-ending game against Milwaukee. "All we can continue to do is improve ourselves, and hopefully in April we'll look up and we'll be in there."

Though the Jazz are just 6-14 on the road this season, a 15-3 record at EnergySolutions Arena — including 3-0 in their current four-game homestand — has them holding onto hope.

"We're winning ballgames," Boozer said. "We're going to improve and get better."

Which is all it's about, Boozer suggested.

"We want to get better as the season goes along," he said, "so we're at our best at the end of the season."

TRADE TALK: It's been two-plus weeks since the Dec. 29 trade that sent unhappy swingman Gordan Giricek to Philadelphia for swingman Kyle Korver and a lottery-protected future first-round draft pick.

Asked recently by Hoopsworld.com what he missed most about the Jazz, Giricek didn't hesitate.

"I made a lot of friends in the locker room — some guys that I knew before like Mehmet Okur, Andrei Kirilenko, and I got along well with Jarron Collins, also," Giricek said. "So I will say those three guys are probably who I will stay in touch with in my life."

Giricek, incidentally, is averaging 3.3 points and 12.0 minutes while shooting just 26.9 percent in six games for Philly. The 76ers are 1-5 in those games, and he didn't even play (coach's decision) in the Sixers' loss last Friday to Chicago.