Jazz finally look ready for that long road ahead

There.

Feel better?

Now, could everyone please settle down and watch the final 77 games?

Just when it appeared the Jazz (and their fans) had developed lasting psychological issues (paranoia, anxiety depression), they dispatched San Antonio, 113-99, on Thursday night at EnergySolutions Arena.

If the rest of the season goes anything like the first five games, it's going to be one loopy ride. The real indicator, though, will be when the Jazz finally beat the Spurs in San Antonio — something they haven't done since 1999.

Still, Thursday's win looked a lot more like the team that always makes the playoffs and less like a team coming unglued. The Jazz played their third opponent from Texas in a week, and finally got a win. Otherwise, they'd have been oh-for-Texas. After embarrassing losses to Houston and Dallas, you had to wonder: Could it become irreversible, like the federal deficit?

At this rate, one thing seems clear: the Jazz needed to be wary of anything with a zip code beginning in 7.

Texas has been a killer on the Jazz lately.

It's not like Jazz fans could have seen Thursday night's win coming from afar. The game was preceded by more dire anticipation than a cholera outbreak. Already they had lost to three teams in their conference (Denver, Dallas, Houston).

It wasn't just the losses, but how the Jazz took them. They were outscored by 17 points in the final 10 minutes of Monday's home loss to Houston — which was missing injured All-Stars Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming — and followed that up by wasting a 16-point, fourth-quarter lead in a loss to Dallas.

Fourth quarters had been a disaster.

The Jazz hadn't just been bad, they had ended badly, like a high school breakup.

The offense was largely non-existent, the defense worse than ever. How else to describe Carlos Boozer averaging just 13 points and Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki pouring in 29 fourth-quarter points?

This was a snapshot of the Jazz's early season: Boozer missing a shot by eight feet; Mehmet Okur lunging from behind in a failed effort to catch Nowitzki; Andrei Kirilenko failing to finish; Paul Millsap lobbing a soft pass that an infant could steal; Deron Williams trying to get his team back too quickly and missing quick shots.

A team that was unraveling before its very eyes.

None of that happened on Thursday. This time they built a 15-point, second-half lead and never let the game get close. Boozer was present and accounted for. He even tied Tim Duncan up for jump balls twice in the first half, and finished with 27 points.