Indianapolis ? It started with a victory over the Los Angeles Lakers before the All-Star break, picked up steam with a triumph over the defending champion Boston Celtics on Feb. 19 and has built to a crescendo over the past week.
A Jazz team that was only four games above .500 as recently as Jan. 31, after a lifeless loss at Portland, all of a sudden has gone a full month without a loss, with an 11-game winning streak that is the franchise's longest in nearly 10 years. Not only have they jump-started their season, the Jazz have taken over the Northwest Division lead over Denver. That puts the Jazz in position to secure a top-four playoff seed and possible home-court advantage in a first-round series.
"A month or a month-and-a-half ago, it didn't look like we could win the division," said Deron Williams, who was selected as the Western Conference's Player of the Week on Monday for the first time in his career.
"Now we're right there. We've just got to keep winning. We've got a lot of road games ahead of us, so we've got to prove that we can win on the road, prove that we're worthy of being in the playoffs."
The question now is whether the Jazz will be able to threaten the franchise record of 15 consecutive victories, set twice during the 1996-97 season. The Jazz would tie the mark if they were able to come home a perfect 5-0 from this trip.
They will play Indiana tonight at Conseco Fieldhouse, with the Pacers having won three of their last four games and sitting only two games out of the Eastern Conference's eighth and final playoff spot entering Monday.
The trip concludes with two sets of back-to-back games, with which the Jazz have struggled all season. They will catch Atlanta on Wednesday in the midst of a seven-game homestand for the Hawks, followed by a game Saturday at Miami.
The Jazz have lost to the Heat the last five seasons in Miami, last winning at AmericanAirlines Arena in March 2003. They will finish the trip Sunday at Orlando, which came into Monday owning the NBA's fourth-best record at 46-16.
After beating Toronto on Sunday, Jazz coach Jerry Sloan talked about "getting to games that on paper are tougher games," suggesting the part that favorable scheduling has played during the Jazz's streak.
The Jazz have beaten six teams currently in playoff position -- the Lakers, Boston, New Orleans, Atlanta, Houston and Denver -- during the streak, but all six of those victories came at EnergySolutions Arena.
Their resume on the road has been less impressive with victories at Minnesota, Golden State and Toronto. Those three teams came into Monday with a combined 62-127 record, 65 games below .500.
The Jazz still have beaten only one team on the road -- Detroit -- that currently has a winning record all season. They also have caught teams playing the second game of a back-to-back set 12 times since Jan. 7.
But the Jazz have enjoyed two key developments during their streak. The first has been the return to full strength following an injury-ravaged start that kept the Jazz from fielding their intended starting lineup for the season's first 56 games.
The second has been a return to dominance by Deron Williams following a preseason ankle injury. Williams is averaging 19.5 points and 12.5 assists during the winning streak, shooting 49.7 percent with a better than 4.3 to 1 assist-to-turnover ratio.
"He's playing on that level for like three years already," Andrei Kirilenko said. "At the beginning of the season, it was a problem because he got injury. But lately for the last couple months he feels great and he's the engine of our team."
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Notes
Williams became the Jazz's first player since Mehmet Okur on Feb. 5, 2007, to be selected as conference Player of the Week. Carlos Boozer was chosen Player of the Month in November 2007, but did not win Player of the Week honors.
Williams averaged 25.3 points and 11.3 assists in the Jazz's victories over Houston, Denver and Toronto. Miami's Dwyane Wade was selected Eastern Conference Player of the Week, setting up a showdown against Williams and the Jazz on Saturday. ...
After sitting out Sunday's game with a sprained right ankle, Boozer took part in practice Monday, but not in full. Boozer's availability tonight will be a game-time decision, along with Jarron Collins, who missed practice with a stomach virus.
rsiler@sltrib.com Jazz at Indiana
At Conseco Fieldhouse
Time ? 5 p.m.
TV/Radio ? FSN Utah, 1320 AM, 98.7 FM
Records ? Jazz 40-23, Indiana 28-37
Last meeting ? Jazz won 120-113 (Jan. 12)
Line ? Jazz by 5
About the Jazz ? The Pacers would be wise to pay more attention to Mehmet Okur than they did earlier this season in Utah. Okur was left virtually unguarded at times and scored a career-high 43 points, with 41 coming in the first three quarters.
About the Pacers ? Indiana is 18-16 in 2009 and has won six of the nine games since All-Star forward Danny Granger was lost to a partially torn tendon in his foot. Granger could return tonight against the Jazz. Jarrett Jack has helped pick up the slack, scoring 20 points or more in five of the last seven games with Granger out. Weekly standard
For only the sixth time since the end of the John Stockton/Karl Malone era, a Jazz player was selected Western Conference Player of the Week. Deron Williams earned the honors for the first time in his career. A look at the other five times.
Date Player
Feb. 5, 2007 Mehmet Okur
Dec. 18, 2006 Carlos Boozer
Nov. 6, 2006 Carlos Boozer
Feb. 29, 2004 Andrei Kirilenko
Nov. 9, 2003 Andrei Kirilenko
