Utah Jazz notes: Sloan looking for a good defensive stopper

On the day the Jazz opened a five-game homestand with a win over Toronto, coach Jerry Sloan still had last Saturday's loss at New Jersey on his mind.

Specifically, he was consumed by how late-game defense — or lack thereof — proved so costly in a two-point loss that ended with Richard Jefferson driving past Andrei Kirilenko for the game-winning basket with 1.5 seconds remaining.

"In a game like that, you've got to be able to give a little bit more of yourself to be able to stop them," Sloan said Monday. "I don't know, maybe I had the wrong guys out there.

"I look at our team," he added, "and we don't really have a defensive stopper, (where) I can put a guy on (and say), 'You go out and stop that guy.' I'd like for somebody to step up and be that kind of guy, that can go out and guard guys and keep them from going where they want to go. We need that for this team to move forward."

One night before falling at New Jersey, the Jazz beat the league-leading Celtics in Boston.

"You look at Boston ... they've got four or five guys that really come out and get after you on the defensive end of the floor," he said. "They're very good offensively, but, you know, they all play defense. And I haven't been able to get our guys to play at that level defensively. At times we do, and at times we don't."

At this point, Sloan seeks someone, anyone, to fill the role.

"It doesn't have to be a starter," he said before the Jazz beat the Raptors. "Anybody who wants to defend."

Sloan especially would have liked to have seen someone slow down Nets star and ex-Raptor Vince Carter, who finished with 25 points while Jefferson scored 27.

"Carter's won about three games against us just coming down and making baskets, whether it's a 3-point shot or a layup," he said. "People say, 'Well, you should guard him different.' Yeah, you should guard him different. But somebody's got to be able to do that.

"My mentality would be to play him as hard as I can, (and) if I foul him, I foul him," the Jazz coach added. "Some guys (are) afraid they'll foul and they'll be on TV for fouling him. I'd rather be on TV from trying than for not trying."

Against the Nets, Sloan closed small, finishing with Deron Williams, Ronnie Brewer, Kyle Korver, Kirilenko and Carlos Boozer.

Now he questions that.