As soon as the schedule was released in August, the Jazz learned that Jerry Sloan's 20th anniversary of taking over as coach would be spent playing the Timberwolves on the road Dec. 9.
There was another milestone, however, one that the Jazz deemed even more significant. With five more victories, Sloan would win his 1,000th game as the team's coach, though there was no guarantee the Jazz would celebrate at home. With a five-game road trip set to begin Sunday, the Jazz knew they had to open 5-0 to give Sloan a chance to win his 1,000th at home. After beating Portland on Wednesday for No. 999, the Jazz can make history with a win Friday against Oklahoma City.
Only three coaches have ever won 1,000 games in a career, let alone with one team. It likely will be a long time before another coach joins Sloan, with San Antonio's Gregg Popovich still 366 victories shy of 1,000.
Red Auerbach is second on the list, having won 795 games with Boston, while Popovich is third with 633. To put Sloan's accomplishment in perspective, Popovich would need to average 53 wins for seven more seasons to reach 1,000 with the Spurs.
Sloan has done his best to downplay the milestone, though he is pictured on the cover of the Jazz's media guide this season and the team is planning to honor him in some way. But Sloan's players realize the significance of Friday's game.
"For us, it's an honor to be a part of the team that'll get it for him," Carlos Boozer said. "We'd like to get it on Friday here at home so we can celebrate a little bit."
The Jazz went 4-0 against the Seattle SuperSonics last season, before the team relocated to Oklahoma City. They also decided to match the four-year, $14.8 million offer sheet C.J. Miles signed with the Thunder this summer.
JAZZ 103, TRAIL BLAZERS 96: The Jazz trailed by 10 points with less than three minutes left in the third quarter, but recovered to beat Portland, a team that beat them three times last season. Ronnie Brewer sparked the Jazz with 16 points while Mehmet Okur finished with a team-high 22 points and nine rebounds. Carlos Boozer flipped in a lay-up left-handed from the wrong side of the backboard with 29.2 seconds remaining for the game's biggest basket.
