AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — Two sides of the same game …

Add the Detroit Pistons to the long list of NBA teams that seemed so impressed by the Jazz after losing to them.

"They're outstanding,'' Pistons coach John Kuester said after losing to Utah on Wednesday night.

"The cuts that those guys make and the screens that they set — they do a great job,'' Kuester added. "Jerry Sloan is one of the best coaches in the league. There are certain teams that come with a blue-collar work ethic, that you have to come out with a lunch pail and be ready to go at them … that's what you've got to do. You know you're in a game anytime you play the Utah Jazz.''

Added Pistons guard Ben Gordon, as quoted by the Detroit Free Press: "That's probably the best executing team in the NBA.''

If only Sloan, whose Jazz visit Milwaukee on Friday night, agreed.

But it sure didn't seem as if he did, as is so often the case.

Among his comments after Wednesday's win:

"When shots are coming from I-don't-know-where, that makes it difficult'' and "We had 35 assists, but … they ended up for the game with 21 points off of turnovers we gave up. That's just a lack of concentration we had out there.''

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