Jazz putting their pieces together

For a guy who's won more than 1,000 games as an NBA coach, Jerry Sloan makes the process sound so easy.

"Anybody could coach these guys," Sloan said of his current Jazz team, which appears destined to become the 18th playoff club in his 21 years in Utah. "They're good people, they work hard in practice and they do the right thing. It boils down to people and how they work and how they respect their job. You always have a chance to win if you get good people who try to do their job. I don't think it's coaching."

It's hard to disagree with a man who ranks fourth on the all-time wins list, but the fact that the Jazz are within sight of the Western Conference's No. 2 seed is a reflection of what could be some of the best coaching of Sloan's career. Injuries, lineup changes, a typically tough conference schedule and sad off-the-court news for Sloan and the Jazz -- all those factors have made life complicated for a team that came within two victories of the conference finals last season.

"Our guys have played pretty hard trying to win some ball games," Sloan said. "We've lost some games we should have won and won some games we should have lost, but they've shown a lot of desire."

Utah is finally hitting its stride, but it took a while because of injuries to top players. Stars Carlos Boozer (45 games missed) and Deron Williams (14), starting center Mehmet Okur (nine), ace sixth man Andrei Kirilenko (11) and reserve forward Matt Harpring (15) all have been sidelined for long stretches. In fact, the Jazz didn't use their projected starting lineup until the 57th game of the season. They already have used 16 starting lineups, six more than last season.

With Paul Millsap's emergence and the continued development of Ronnie Brewer and C.J. Miles, the Jazz stayed afloat with a 26-22 record through January. Now healthy again (not withstanding Boozer's sore ankle), Utah has won 14 of 15 since Feb. 1, including a current 11-game winning streak fueled by the playmaking of Williams.

The Jazz have benefited from a home-heavy schedule; eight of the victories in the streak have come at EnergySolutions Arena (where they are 52-7 since Jan. 1, 2008), and Sunday's win at Toronto to open a five-game trip improved their road record to only 12-17. But Utah is also playing with more grit on defense, an acknowledged weakness that Sloan said is his responsibility.

"Taking bad shots has been one of the things that causes us to not play good defense a lot of the time," Sloan said. "And since pretty much all of our guys are offensive thinkers to start with, they sometimes have a tendency to take some bad shots and not cover the other end of the floor."

Though Sloan's just-do-your-job demeanor leaves the impression of inflexibility, he isn't as stuck in the old ways as presumed.

"The last couple of years he's changed a lot," said Kirilenko, who has famously battled Sloan in the past over his role. "He can be diplomatic on some days. He tries to involve the players a little bit more [in his decision-making] and explain things a little more. He's still a tough coach with his own philosophy, but he's shown he can adjust and joke a little bit."