SALT LAKE CITY -- Utah coach Jerry Sloan has returned to the
Jazz after missing Monday night's game to be with his ailing wife.
Bobbye Sloan, who battled cancer several years ago, has been
sick for several weeks with flu-like symptoms. Jerry Sloan offered
few details about his wife's condition Tuesday, only saying she is
being tested.
"She has to have a biopsy done to be definitive with what is
going on with her, so it's hard to tell you," Sloan said before
the Jazz practiced Tuesday.
With Sloan at home with his wife, the Jazz beat the Dallas
Mavericks 108-94. Utah's players said the two consecutive losses
before Monday were the inspiration, not Sloan missing the game.
The Jazz didn't hear Sloan wouldn't coach the game until
Monday's pregame meeting.
"Jerry will always tell you, 'Family is first.' Last night, it
was," said center Greg Ostertag, who missed part of the 2002
preseason after donating a kidney to his sister that summer.
Bobbye Sloan, who grew up with Jerry in southern Illinois, was
treated for breast cancer five years ago.
Although Sloan's concern over his wife's health was still
evident in his voice Tuesday, it didn't take long for his sense of
humor to come through when asked if he was surprised by the Jazz's
win Monday night.
"Now they've made a mistake. Everybody knows they can [play
hard] for 48 minutes. We always thought they could," Sloan said
with a chuckle.
Sloan said he expected to be on the Jazz bench again Wednesday
night when Memphis visits Utah. He turned the team over Monday to
longtime assistant Phil Johnson, who has stepped in for Sloan many
times before, usually when the temperamental head coach has gotten
himself in trouble.
Johnson coached the Jazz for seven games last season when Sloan
was suspended for pushing a referee.
"It's happened all kinds of different times. It's happened
during games. It's happened before games. It's just part of the
job," Johnson said. "I think coaching's overrated from
motivational standpoints. They just came together as a team."
The Jazz remained uncertain Tuesday about the status of forward
Matt Harpring, who has missed the last two games with a sore right
knee. Harpring, who will definitely sit Wednesday, said he was
still consulting doctors about how to treat it.
"It's a little sore, but I'm kind of just waiting to see what
the doctor says," he said. "We've kind of agreed we're not going
to talk about it until we get all the information together because
we don't want to have opinions everywhere. So we're just going to
wait and see what happens."