--Jazz coach Jerry Sloan celebrated his 66th birthday Friday. His 20th anniversary as Jazz coach will come Dec. 9, 2008. There have been 197 coaching changes around the league in that time. Sloan also is just 11 wins shy of 1,000 with the Jazz.
Unlike last season, which Sloan called the most difficult of his coaching career, he was cracking jokes Friday. Sloan continues to treat his future as a day-to-day proposition but he clearly believes in the Jazz's direction. "This team will be good regardless of who coaches them," Sloan said. "They have the talent to be a good team if they stay together and work together and believe in each other. They'll be a good basketball team."
--There was an only-in-Utah moment in the third quarter of the Jazz's victory over the Clippers. LDS Church president Thomas S. Monson, making his first appearance at EnergySolutions Arena, interrupted the Jazz's timeout to pat Sloan on the shoulder.
Monson was walking to his seat on the court when he made the abrupt detour. Sloan was startled to say the least, with Deron Williams describing the look on the coach's face as "priceless."
"I'm always a little gun shy," Sloan said. "When somebody gets in the huddle, you never know what's happening, especially if you're the coach. Somebody might not want to yank you out of there."
--The 66 points Williams and Carlos Boozer combined to score was one more than their season high, set in a Dec. 8 game at Dallas in which Williams scored a career-high 41. It also was the first time ever that the two players had each scored 30 in the same game.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "We have the ability to raise our game when we have some guys out." -- Jazz forward Carlos Boozer, on Friday's game. He and Deron Williams combined to score 25 points more than their season average with the Jazz down three starters.
