SALT LAKE CITY — As bad as they’ve played at times, it might come as a surprise that the Utah Jazz can even their record with a win tonight.

One guy that won’t get in their way: 7-foot Andrew Bogut .

The Milwaukee Bucks center and former University of Utah star is not with the team and won’t play tonight because of personal matters.

Mike Dunleavy (groin pain) and Ben Udrih (left shoulder pain) will also miss the Jazz-Bucks game.

“We have an opportunity to improve our record to 3-3 tonight, but it’s not going to be easy,” Jazz coach Tyrone Corbin said after his team’s morning shootaround. “Milwaukee’s a good ball club. We’re going to have to compete against them as if they’re coming in here to win.”

Both the Jazz (2-3) and Bucks (2-2) are coming off of games Monday night. Milwaukee lost in Denver 91-86, and Utah edged New Orleans 94-90 at EnergySolutions Arena.

That location tidbit makes tonight’s showdown an anomaly. This is the first back-to-back set with two home games for the Jazz since Nov. 2008.

This was Utah fans’ only chance to catch an up-close-and-person glimpse of the former Ute standout, who is averaging 14.3 points and 10.0 rebounds this season.

Earlier today, Corbin credited Bogut for being a solid passer with strong low-post moves.

“He’s a versatile big guy who’s continued to get better and learned this game,” Corbin said.

This game (7 p.m. MT tipoff, ROOT Sports) will conclude a six-games-in-eight-nights beginning of the season for the Jazz. It’s also the second of three home games Utah has this week and one of 12 contests at ESA in January for the young team.

Utah will go with the same starters as Monday: Devin Harris, Raja Bell, Gordon Hayward, Paul Millsap and Al Jefferson.

Email: jody@desnews.com Twitter: DJJazzyJody

SALT LAKE CITY — Get off the ledge, Jazz fans, and breathe easy. There’s no need to jump — your favorite NBA team is not gonna go 0-66 this season.

Not if Friday night’s effort is any indication of things to come.

After back-to-back beatings on the road, the Utah Jazz returned home and conjured up visions of glorious victories from the past with a gritty (and much-needed) 102-99 thriller over the Philadelphia 76ers at raucous EnergySolutions Arena.

It wasn’t clear whether Friday’s drama-filled win was one which brought about great joy or simply a sense of relief. After all, in their season-opener — a 25-point loss to the Lakers — the Jazz were The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight. And in Game 2 — an ugly 17-point defeat at Denver — they looked like The Gang That Couldn’t Play Defense.

But in Game 3 on Friday night, they became The Gang That Refused to Lose at Home.

With four starters — Derrick Favors, Devin Harris, Gordon Hayward and Paul Millsap — scoring in double figures, and two of them — Millsap and Favors — coming up with double-digit rebounds as well, this lineup looked much more focused and cohesive than the one that got slapped around in those lopsided losses at L.A. and Denver.

And with critical contributions off the bench from Earl Watson, C.J. Miles, Josh Howard and Enes Kanter, the Jazz gave their fans a wonderful, albeit a little late, Christmas present — hope.

Hope that this team will rise above all those preseason predictions that have them languishing among the worst teams in the league.

As for now, though, it’s doubtful that any team in NBA history has ever been happier to be 1-2.

And Utah coach Tyrone Corbin was mighty glad to that first victory.

“We needed a win, first of all,” he said. “The first two games on the road, we didn’t really feel good about how we played.

“We made some mistakes again tonight, but I thought our energy level was up on the offensive end of the floor and defensively we did a great job communicating with each other. … The guys did a good job of not falling apart but coming together more and encouraging each other and pushing each other.

“We’re growing; we’re getting better,” Corbin said. “We’re still a young group of guys, and we’ll keep getting better, keep fighting and keep trying to figure it out. And as long as we stay together as a group, we have a great chance to get this thing worked out.”

Before the game, shooting guard C.J. Miles — who, at the ripe old age of 24, is the longest-tenured member of the team — thanked the fans “for sticking with us through the lockout” and commended them for being the “best fans in the NBA.”

DENVER — The Pepsi Center hoops appeared to be bigger than the ones at Staples Center.

Unfortunately for the Utah Jazz, that went both ways.

A night after their offense was nowhere to be found in a lopsided loss against the Los Angeles Lakers, the Jazz hit some shots and scored just fine.

But their defense disappeared.

Rotations, team help, effort and any chance at winning all evaporated in the thin Mile High air on Wednesday night, too.

The result was another embarrassing 117-100 blowout — this one by the Denver Nuggets.

“We have to get better. … We’ve had two tough losses,” said Jazz coach Tyrone Corbin, whose team lost by an average 21 points in back-to-back nights. “We’ve got to get back together and continue to work and fight. We’ve got to learn to trust each other on the defensive end of the floor and get it figured out.”

Utah did hit 48 percent of its field goals in Denver’s building after missing a whopping 61 shots while shooting 32 percent against the Lakers in an awful offensive showing, so there’s that.

But Denver had its way with Utah’s restructured defense, which resembled a church-ball team.

The Jazz gave up 68 points in the paint, allowed Nene to score 25 points, watched Andre Miller dish out 12 assists and Al Harrington drop in 18 points off the bench, cranked their necks as speedy Ty Lawson burst to the hoop time after time, helplessly permitted the Nuggets to shoot a sizzling 53.5 percent, and let the home track team run and jump all over, around and above them.

That was one long paragraph — and an even longer night — for a deficient defense.

Giving up lobs, drives, backdoor cuts and transition baskets disgusted Corbin.

“That’s unacceptable,” he said. “That’s just effort. That’s disappointing.”

The second-year coach had a longer-than-usual postgame chat with his team, taking an extra 10 minutes or so to try to impress on them the need to play harder and together.

Sure, they’re a work in progress. They’ve got an odd mix of inexperienced talent and capable veterans. But they lack an identity and consistency, with the offense and defense trading turns at stinking it up.

“We’ve got to get things figured out quickly,” Corbin said. “The effort we got for the most part today wasn’t satisfactory, so we wanted to have a discussion about it.”

Things started somewhat promising for Utah, which is in the midst of a rough six-games-in-eight-nights stretch.

Center Al Jefferson scored 10 of his team-best 19 points in the first quarter after missing 14 of 16 shots against the Lakers. But Utah’s starting five of Devin Harris, Raja Bell, Gordon Hayward, Derrick Favors and Big Al still didn’t completely click, falling behind 28-23 after the first 12 minutes.

SALT LAKE CITY — Back in the early 1960s, or about 20-30 years before most members of this Utah Jazz team were even born, there was this great television series called “Route 66.”

The TV show was about a couple of young men, Tod and Buz (and later a dude they called Linc for the series’ final season), two buddies who spent their time traveling around the country. They moved in and out of the lives of people, helping them deal with their various adversities as this Corvette-cruising couple of guys passed through various cities throughout America along “Route 66.”

Well, the Utah Jazz have their own version of “Route 66″ — an arduous schedule of 66 regular-season games, crammed into a four-month time frame because of the NBA owners’ lengthy lockout that essentially wiped out almost all of the preseason and most of the first two months of what would’ve been the 2011-12 regular season.

Much like those two young men back in the ’60s, the Jazz will be playing “Route 66″ as they’ll visit a couple-dozen cities among their 33 road games, most of them with just enough time to check into a hotel, go to the arena for shootaround, play the game that night and then quickly head for their next destination.

And now, instead of playing 82 games in a season stretching over almost six months, NBA teams will play 66 games in four months’ time. If you do the math, it only comes down to an average of about three more games a month than what they’ve typically played in the past. That may not sound like much, but it’s a schedule that offers them less rest, less time to bounce back between games, less time to recover from injuries and less time to prepare for the next opponent.

But on this “Route 66″ — a wild and rugged journey the Jazz hope will lead them to the NBA playoffs — there will no doubt be a few bad bumps and chuckholes in the road, maybe a blown tire or two, and plenty of need for a rest stop whenever they can find one. Don’t be surprised if they run outta gas along the way, too, maybe more than once.

And these guys won’t be able to call AAA for any roadside assistance, either.

“We want to compete as hard as we can every night we step on the floor,” Jazz coach Tyrone Corbin said. “Everything else will take care of itself.”

That seems to be the team mantra this season — come out and compete every night of the season because, with this team of role players and no real superstars to speak of, they can’t afford to take nights off.

SALT LAKE CITY — Josh Howard is heading to Utah and should join the Jazz for practices beginning Saturday morning.

If he passes his physical, the veteran small forward who agreed to a one-year deal with Utah on Thursday will probably even suit up and make a brief appearance in Saturday night’s scrimmage at EnergySolutions Arena.

“(Just) so the fans can see him and he can get his feet wet a little bit,” Jazz coach Tyrone Corbin said.

When Howard arrives, he’ll be welcomed by the Jazz — especially by his buddy, Devin Harris, and, yes, even by fellow wings, Gordon Hayward and C.J. Miles.

“We’ve been close friends for a while, since the Dallas days,” said Harris, who played with Howard from 2004-08 with the Mavericks. “He’s a guy who really can help this team, and I’m just excited to have one of my close friends on the team.”

That outward excitement was the shared sentiment in Jazz camp this morning, including by the aforementioned players’ whose playing time might be lessened by Howard’s addition.

“Any time you can compete for spots like that and compete for minutes, it just increases your depth and makes you get better as a team overall,” second-year swingman Hayward said.

“I don’t think I’m worried,” he added. “I can (only) control how I play and how I do, and just let it fall from there.”

Howard comes in with a proven track record of being a prolific scorer, as the Jazz once found out when he dropped 47 points on them in a game. He’s also considered an excellent small forward rebounder.

But Hayward believes the 6-foot-7 veteran can give the Jazz a needed defensive boost against bigger wing players.

Miles said the Jazz are getting a versatile former All-Star who makes it tough for opponents to guard because of his mid-range game, his posting and facing-up inside skills, his passing and rebounding.

“He can do a little bit of everything,” Miles said.

Include win and help the wings improve.

“He only makes us better as a team to add somebody like him,” Miles said. “He pushes the rest of us guys in that position at the two and three. That’s what it’s all about, us coming in here and competing.”

Harris worked out with Howard in the summer and said the 31-year-old is “fully back” from a knee injury that limited him to only playing in 18 games since tearing his ACL in February 2010.

Corbin warned before this morning’s practice that Howard is not in “great NBA shape” just yet. That will take time, and Howard will have to bring his body to that elite fitness level before challenging for playing time.

As talented as Howard is, Corbin doesn’t want to just “throw him to the wolves.”

Added the second-year coach: “We want to give him the best chance to be successful and be on the floor.”

Email: jody@desnews.com Twitter: DJJazzyJody

Friday, December 9, 2011

Utah Jazz center Al Jefferson’s girlfriend has been arrested on suspicion of domestic assault after authorities say she bit him at their home.

Cottonwood Heights police say Shirley Lewis was arrested Thursday night and booked into the Salt Lake County jail. She was later released.

Authorities say the 38-year-old girlfriend faces misdemeanor charges of domestic assault and domestic violence in the presence
of a child.

Police say Jefferson may face charges, too.

It wasn’t immediately clear if Lewis had an attorney, and her phone number is unlisted. Jefferson’s agent didn’t immediately return a message Friday, and a Jazz spokeswoman says the team has no information.

Jefferson started all 82 games last season and led the team in scoring with 18.6 points a game.

SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Jazz need to add at least two players before the upcoming season begins.

It remains possible two familiar faces will fill those empty roster spots.

The Jazz are engaged in ongoing discussions with the camps of small forward Andrei Kirilenko and point guard Earl Watson, their agents told the Deseret News on Monday.

General manager Kevin O’Connor confirmed that he reached out to the former Jazz players on the team-owned radio station, 1320 KFAN.

O’Connor, who didn’t immediately return calls from the Deseret News, first contacted Utah’s current players when allowed Monday morning, he told play-by-play announcer David Locke. The Jazz G.M. then phoned former players who are free agents.

Monday marked the first day NBA front-office personnel were allowed to speak with players and free agents.

Kirilenko played for the Jazz the past 10 seasons, but he’s currently under contract with CSKA Moscow in his native Russia. Though nursing a broken nose and recovering from a bruised shoulder, Kirilenko is expected to play again this weekend with his Russian team while NBA negotiations continue, according to his representative.

“He’s still weighing his interest in different teams,” agent Marc Fleisher said.

As for Watson, the veteran playmaker has maintained a hope to return to Utah since last spring. The 10-year pro felt more comfortable running the team’s offense as his first season with Utah progressed, and he liked his reserve situation behind Deron Williams and Devin Harris.

“The organization knows how I feel,” Watson enthusiastically told the Deseret News on Monday.

Watson also took the time to thank Jazz fans who participated in a “BringBackEarl” campaign on Twitter with this message: “Thank you to all of jazz nation! Great fans!”

Friday is the first day players can officially come to an agreement with teams or trades can be made, pending the ratification of the new collective bargaining agreement.

That’s also when camps can begin.

The Jazz received good news on that front. Center Mehmet Okur will be here in time to participate from the get-go of the training sessions.

Okur was granted a release from his Turkish basketball team, allowing him to leave early despite a stipulation in the contract that he had to stay until a new NBA labor deal was officially in place.

Okur flew from Turkey to the United States on Monday. He’s returning, by the way, in much-improved health, his agent said, as the center’s surgically repaired left Achilles tendon and back have made significant progress from last season when he played in only 13 games for the Jazz.

SALT LAKE CITY — Imagine Greg Ostertag. Now picture a court full of guys who were much shorter, remarkably slower and worse outside shooters than the oft-goofy player Karl Malone called out for returning one fall with an oversized caboose.

That was what the Utah Jazz coaching staff had to work with during a fantasy training camp this past week.

Considering how silly they got to make newspaper, TV and radio guys look for a two-hour period, this was one media session the coaches clearly savored.

Perhaps their favorite part?

Most of us were too winded to ask inane questions.

While a new labor deal is hammered out, Tyrone Corbin, Scott Layden, Jeff Hornacek and Sidney Lowe have extra time on their hands. Sure, they’ve strategized and prepared for whenever real basketball gets here. In the meantime, they’ve put on camp-like clinics at the team training facility for season ticket holders, sponsors and VIPs.

For a day, participants experience what it’s like to be Paul Millsap and Gordon Hayward — minus the million dollar contracts and pink princess backpacks.

Wednesday was the media’s day, and we were given full access to the place.

We parked our clunkers in the secured lot where Deron Williams’ fancy cars used to chill.

We goofed around in the locker room, where smiling media guys took over personalized lockers usually occupied by NBA players.

We even got to dip into the water station gum dish.

There were limitations. No whirlpool, massages or kicking back with popcorn in the team theater room. While wandering through the training room, I was teased, “What are you doing back here?” (I resisted making a Carlos Boozer joke.)

But I did manage to find my way into Kevin O’Connor’s office, which has a big window that overlooks the two basketball courts.

“Keep your day job,” the Jazz general manager said after watching me struggle with 20 media types.

The coaches might be reconsidering their career paths due to their closer view of the court carnage. At the very least, they might have to reel in unrealistic expectations once they get their real players back and see how good they are compared to media ballers.

Coaches witnessed us stumble while stretching. They heard our groans in warm-up exercises, encouraged us as we tortured the rim (and air) with off-target layup and jumper attempts, patiently guided us through drills and watched as four teams struggled for 10 minutes to hit three buckets in scrimmage action.

Considered by many (people named Jody Genessy) to be the John Stockton of the Kearns South Stake in the 1980s, my hoop skills were rusty.

SALT LAKE CITY (August 18, 2011) – The Utah Jazz announced today the team’s eight-game 2011 preseason schedule which, for the second straight year, will feature three home games at EnergySolutions Arena.

The Jazz will open the preseason at Portland on October 9 for the first of two meetings with the Trail Blazers. Jazz fans will get their first chance to see the team in Salt Lake City when the Jazz hosts Northwest Division rival Oklahoma City on Wednesday, October 12, and then the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday, October 14.

Utah will then play three straight games in Southern California, facing the Los Angeles Lakers (10/16) and Clippers (10/17) on back-to-back nights at STAPLES Center before meeting the Lakers at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., on October 19. This is the second straight preseason and fourth time in the last five years that the Lakers and Jazz will meet in Anaheim.

The Jazz then hosts Portland in the return match on October 21 before wrapping up the preseason with a game against the Golden State Warriors at the Bismarck Civic Center in Bismarck, N.D., home to the NBA Development League’s Dakota Wizards, on October 25. This is the first time the Jazz will ever play a game in North or South Dakota.

This year’s schedule marks the second straight year the Jazz will host three preseason games in Salt Lake City. The 2010 preseason was the first time this ever occurred, and was the first time since 2001 that the team played three preseason games in the state of Utah.

While Utah also played the Trail Blazers, Clippers and Lakers in the 2010 preseason, the Jazz will face Oklahoma City for the first time since 2004 when they were still the Seattle SuperSonics, and meet Golden State in the preseason for the first time since 1995.

The following is the complete 2011 Utah Jazz Preseason Schedule:

Sun, Oct. 9
at Portland
Portland, OR (Rose Garden)
7 p.m.

Wed, Oct. 12
vs. OKLAHOMA CITY
EnergySolutions Arena
7 p.m.

Fri, Oct. 14
vs. L.A. CLIPPERS
EnergySolutions Arena
7 p.m.

Sun, Oct. 16
at L.A. Lakers
Los Angeles, CA (STAPLES Center)
8 p.m.

Mon, Oct. 17
at L.A. Clippers
Los Angeles, CA (STAPLES Center)
8:30 p.m.

Wed, Oct. 19
vs. L.A. Lakers
Anaheim, CA (Honda Center)
8 p.m.

Fri, Oct. 21
vs. PORTLAND
EnergySolutions Arena
7 p.m.

Tue, Oct. 25
vs. Golden State
Bismarck, ND (Bismarck Civic Center)
6 p.m.

SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Jazz announced the team’s eight-game 2011 preseason schedule Thursday, which, if the NBA lockout ends, will feature three home games at EnergySolutions Arena for the second straight year .

Should the lockout end, the Jazz would open the preseason at Portland on Oct. 9 for the first of two meetings with the Trail Blazers. Jazz fans will get their first chance to see the team in Salt Lake City when the Jazz host Northwest Division rival Oklahoma City on Wednesday, Oct. 12, and then the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday, Oct. 14.

Next on the schedule are three games in Southern California. The Jazz are scheduled to play the Los Angeles Lakers, Oct. 16, and Clippers, Oct. 16-17, in Staples Center, before a meeting with the Lakers at the Honda Center in Anaheim on Oct. 19. This is the second straight preseason and fourth time in the last five years that the Lakers and Jazz will meet in Anaheim.

The Jazz then host Portland in the return match on Oct. 21 before wrapping up the preseason with a game against the Golden State Warriors at the Bismarck Civic Center in Bismarck, N.D., home to the NBA Development League’s Dakota Wizards, on Oct. 25. This is the first time the Jazz will ever play a game in North or South Dakota.

In going up against some of the top AAU basketball teams in the country, the Utah Pump N Run elite U17 AAU team is having a busy and incredibly successful summer.

After recently completing a semifinal run in the Super 64 tournament in Las Vegas, the team is currently in Los Angeles at the Best of Summer tournament.

Through the summer Pump N Run has posted a stellar 12-1 record, including a star-studded team from Atlanta.

The Atlanta Celtics have a rich history that includes alumni Amare Stoudemire (New York Knicks), Dwight Howard (Orlando Magic), Josh Smith (Atlanta Hawks) and Derrick Favors (Utah Jazz).

According to Pump N Runs standout Jordan Loveridge, the current Celtics have players who have committed to Memphis, UCLA and some other top schools in the nation.

“They were definitely the best team we’ve played so far,” said the West Jordan High standout. “Everyone on their team had big-time offers, and it was a great game, but we beat them by a point, which was a huge win for us. I had a big game, too, with 35 points and 12 rebounds.”

While it’s hard to match the rich history of an AAU squad like the Atlanta Celtics, Utah Pump N Run has a stellar history of its own. Its alumni includes players Charles Abouo (BYU), Chris Collinsworth (BYU) and Brandon Davies (BYU).

Along with Loveridge, who has offers from BYU, Utah, Utah State, Hawaii and Colorado State, Utah State commits Marcel Marcel Davis, Quincey Bair and David Collette are on the team along with Weber State commit Ryan Van Pelt.

The team has been together for three years, and the players have grown very close while improving in their overall play. This year they wanted to go out strong. So far, so good on that front.

“We’ve proven that we can play with anybody and that Utah has some of the best talent around,” said Loveridge. “We’re very close friends, all of us on the team, and we all dedicated ourselves to playing well and representing the state as best we possibly could.”

It seems its opponents aren’t too scared when they see Pump N Run is from Utah, but by its dominant showing during this year’s AAU circuit, that could be changing.

“You can see it in their eyes when we take the court, they don’t respect Utah and they don’t think Utah has good talent,” said Loveridge of their opponents. “Pretty soon, after the ball is tipped, we’re proving to them that Utah has as good of talent as anyone around. That’s important to us, to represent what we have here in Utah.”

Loveridge has certainly warranted a lot of attention through his play. His 35-point, 12-rebound output against the Atlanta Celtics has been somewhat the norm for him this summer.