Jazz's fast start no reason to celebrate says Jefferson

SALT LAKE CITY — There's no doubt the Utah Jazz are off to a somewhat surprising start, but they've been down this road before.

And, hey, it wasn't very long ago.

After all, Utah started the 2010-11 season by winning 24 of its first 35 games. But just when it looked like the Jazz were headed for another in a long line of playoff appearances, the wheels completely came off.

Utah lost 32 of its last 47 games and wound up 39-43 overall — just its second losing season in the last 28 years and only the fourth time they've missed postseason play during that same span.

Things got so bad that venerable coach Jerry Sloan abruptly resigned last February, taking his longtime assistant and sidekick Phil Johnson with him. Then two weeks later, the Jazz traded away their best player, All-Star point guard Deron Williams, to the New Jersey Nets.

So veteran NBA center Al Jefferson, Utah's leading scorer and rebounder this season, isn't about to start pounding his chest over the team's strong start.

Sure, the Jazz took the fourth-best record in the Western Conference (6-3) into Wednesday night's 90-87 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, and Jefferson is pleased with that.

But Big Al realizes it's much too soon to start feeling too good about things, and he remembers all too well the chuckholes that sidetracked and stalled the team last season.

"Yes," he said when asked if this is the best the Jazz have played since last January. "But at the same time, we were playing well at this same time last year and we let it go. So that's why I'm not satisfied with it. We have to play every game like we're last in the West, and that's what we're going to continue to do until it's all said and done."

The Jazz, Jefferson insisted, need to maintain that attitude, stay hungry, want it.

"Last year we had a little success and then with everything that happened ... so this year we're going to do everything in our power to keep that from happening again," he said. "We don't want to be a team that's known to just play well the first half of the season.

"We want to be a team that stays consistent and be a playoff team. And right now we are, but we've got a long way to go, and we've got to keep it up."

Jefferson pointed out the strong play of Utah's bench, which is getting great contributions from Derrick Favors, Josh Howard, Earl Watson and rookies Alec Burks and Enes Kanter.

But he knows the ballclub can't get too full of itself.