Utah Jazz using a 'just keep playing' mentality

OKLAHOMA CITY — At 101 man-games lost due to injury, and counting, the Jazz's health woes this season have been rather well-chronicled.

Lost amid the doctor visits and medical reports, however, has been an explanation for how they have largely been able to overcome.

It's a team, after all, that in 38 games already has utilized 13 different opening lineups — yet still is 23-15 with a four-game win streak heading into a three-stop trip that opens tonight at Oklahoma City.

"We've lost almost everybody from our starting lineup, in our rotation," added shooting guard Ronnie Brewer, one of the few — he tapped the Jazz's Salt Lake City practice-facility floor as it was pointed out — who hasn't missed a game because of injury this season.

Yet, Brewer added, "we've learned how to play without people, and we've found a way to win."

But how?

Simply dealing with the hand they've been dealt and refusing to buy into the pity game, some assert, has something to do with it.

"We just keep playing," said point guard Deron Williams, who earlier missed 13 games with an ankle sprain — and has played the last few despite a bad head cold and sinus infection. "That's all we can do."

Added shooting guard Kyle Korver, who missed four games in November with a sprained wrist: "We really don't even think about it anymore. ... We know guys are going to be hurt, and we just plug someone else in and go play the game."

Reality, though, suggests the Jazz do think about it more than they'd admit.

With All-Star power forward Carlos Boozer about to miss a 27th straight game because of a left knee that needed arthroscopic repair, starting small forward C.J. Miles having missed the last two games with a sprained right ankle and replacement-starter power forward Paul Millsap out for the last because of a bruised right knee — and with the status of both Miles and Millsap for tonight up in the air — they can't help but ponder the pros and cons.

"It's been tough," Williams said Tuesday, "but it's helped us, and I think it will help us in the long run in case somebody goes out again.

"At the same time, you'd like to get a rotation down. That's when you're most comfortable, is when you have a rotation, when guys know their minutes, when guys know when they're coming in and out.

"But with this team this year, we really haven't had a chance to do that," he added. "We've had so many different starting lineups, so many different guys playing different positions. It's been hard on us. ... We've been without two point guards. We've been without two post men. We've been without pretty much every situation you can think of."

Resulting road bumps are plentiful.