Utah Jazz: Corbin gets there, barely

TORONTO — After calling Saturday's Arizona-Arizona State game for CBS, Jazz television play-by-play announcer Craig Bolerjack didn't arrive in Canada for Sunday's day game against the Toronto Raptors until about midnight.

But Bolerjack's got nothing on fifth-year Jazz assistant coach Tyrone Corbin, who had a whirlwind itinerary after watching his point-guard son, Tyrell Corbin, team with senior forward Chris Barnes help lead West High to an upset victory over previously unbeaten Provo High in a Utah Class 4A state-championship game that didn't get under way until about 4:30 p.m. Saturday.

He merely took a 9 p.m. flight from Salt Lake City to Portland, Ore., where he caught a red-eye to Chicago, where, after losing an hour to daylight-savings time, he endured a nerve-wracking delay before his scheduled crack-of-dawn flight arrived at Toronto just in time for an airport-to-arena car ride for pregame work, sans shower, prior to Sunday's early afternoon tip.

And Corbin did it all not via the usual NBA means of travel — comfy charter flights — but instead common-man commercial.

All in coach, which is no simply task for someone who stands 6-foot-6.

"I don't mind it, for the reason I stayed back," said Corbin, who also played three his 16 NBA seasons with the Jazz from 1991-94.

"Oh, man, it's a tremendous joy to sit and watch your kid play in a game like that, and for him to play well, and for his team to win," he added the day after watching his sophomore son take over by scoring nine of his 14 points, including West's final go-ahead bucket, in the fourth quarter. "So, it (the crazy travel) didn't bother me at all."

Observing was much more difficult for the elder Corbin, who didn't win his first state title in South Carolina until he was a senior.

"I was looking at the clock the whole time, and the clock wouldn't move," he said. "You know, I've played in games — and it's just a different feeling altogether."

Despite his vast basketball knowledge, Corbin considers himself a typical parent-fan.

"I'm just a dad," he said. "I mean, they (West's coaches) do it all. I've done some stuff with them to help them out a little bit, but they do all the work over there. Coach (Bob) Lyman and his staff do a great job."

By the time he finally cleared customs and made it to Air Canada Centre, and even after a morning phone conversation playfully reminded him that Tyrell's state title came two years sooner than his old man's, Corbin was still beaming.

"He was excited, and rightfully so," said Jazz head coach Jerry Sloan, who before Sunday's victory over the Raptors seemed genuinely happy Corbin worked out a way to watch his boy play.

"That's got to be a fun thing for him, and it's a wonderful thing, I'm sure, for his son to experience that — especially at this early age."

E-MAIL: tbuckley@desnews.com