Sour hour for Jazz against shorthanded Nuggets

"It's not doomsday. I mean, if we come and play we'll be fine," he said. "But you can't expect teams to give you games. You've got to earn them, and work for them.

"I'm not gonna panic. ... The season's not over. We'll keep playing. We just got through playing three games in four days in three different cities, when you look at it. So, that's part of basketball you can't panic about.

"You'll have nights that things don't go right for you, the whole world hates you," added Sloan, who was last seen creasing a scoresheet following an especially tough loss Thursday night at Oklahoma City. "Everybody hates you, and people boo you. But it's your job to pick yourself up, and try to do it again. You can't bail out."

Sloan, like Miller, seems inclined to keep the Jazz together even through next month's NBA trade deadline.

"We can't afford to panic," he said. "I'm sure a lot of people will. But hopefully our players won't. They'll stay together, and go from there."

Williams expressed similar sentiments.

"I'm all for anything improving the team. But we have a great group of guys here, you know?" he said. "You know, you can always say there's something else that can help improve this team — but I think right now this is the team we have, so you can't think elsewise until something happens.

"And with this group we have, we just have to put a run together. You know, we know we can win some ballgames in a row. It's got to happen sometime."

With that, Williams scratched at his face.

"That," he said, "is why I'm growing my beard. Because I said we can win five in a row."

e-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com