Utah Jazz: Sloan rips Jazz intensity in loss

In their first home preseason game, the Utah Jazz got outrebounded, struggled to hit shots and were described as looking downright "sluggish" by their coach.

If some Jazz players didn't consider this a meaningless preseason game, they could have fooled Jerry Sloan.

"We looked like we didn't even care," Utah's sideline boss said following an uninspiring 96-89 loss to the Phoenix Suns at EnergySolutions Arena. "That's a huge concern to me."

But good luck convincing Jazz big man Kyrylo Fesenko this game didn't have any significance.

For the 21-year-old Ukrainian, Thursday's contest was a chance-of-a-lifetime encounter. He finally got to go mano-a-mammoth with his childhood hero, Shaquille O'Neal.

While their 10-minute match-up didn't exactly factor into the final score much, Fesenko said he learned a huge lesson from battling and banging against the 7-foot-1, 325-pound center he's looked up to for years.

If nothing else, it was a humbling (and sometimes painful) experience for the 7-1, 278-pound Jazz center who's still trying to prove he belongs on an NBA court. Fesenko had three fouls and two turnovers in his second-quarter showdown, but he also had a block while taking and doing some pounding inside.

"It was really hard. I am not big. I am not strong. I am a small girl," Fesenko said, comparing himself to the massive O'Neal's size and talents. "I have a lot of work to do, and I have to start right now."

The battle of big men was also one of the few positives Sloan took from this lackluster loss during which the Jazz hit just 42.5 percent of their field goals while making a Shaq-like 22 of 36 free throws.

"I thought (Fesenko) tried to play him pretty well. That's a tough assignment whoever has to play the guy. He's so big and so strong, but at least he tried to compete against him," Sloan said. "That was a nice thing to see. That's a little bit more than what we got out of some of the other people."

With veterans Carlos Boozer (strained hamstring) and Matt Harpring (ankle rehab) still sidelined, Sloan used a wide variety of lineups to counter the Suns. He even reinserted Andrei Kirilenko back into the starting lineup — though as a power forward instead of his usual small forward role — and gave 11 guys a dozen or more minutes on the court.

The Jazz, though, couldn't maintain momentum against Phoenix, which was led by reserves Matt Barnes (21 points) and Alando Tucker (19 points).

Kyle Korver topped Jazz scorers off the bench with 16 points, while Mehmet Okur added 12 points and Morris Almond chipped in 10.

Sloan, though, was less than impressed with the Suns' 45-35 rebounding edge and the Jazz's overall effort.