<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Before any of his players are tempted to give up on the season, Jerry Sloan made a strong appeal Monday: Keep playing hard - not for me, but for you. In addition to the team's goals, which are unlikely but not impossible, there are plenty of individual reasons to keep playing, the coach said in a short address to his players at the team's morning shootaround. There are contracts to be won and scouts to impress. What happens in April could still affect players' futures. "Teams watch you, even when you sit on the bench. They have scouts that evaluate teams all the time, watching to see what kind of guy you are, whether you would fit in," Sloan said. "I told the guys, 'You should want the other 29 teams to want you.' " The Jazz have a handful of potential free agents this summer, including guard Devin Brown if the Jazz don't pick up the option on his two-year deal. Brown said his intensity automatically goes up this time of year. He still has the postseason in mind. "I know what time of year it is. Good teams turn it on right now," said Brown, the former Spur. "That's something I learned, that you have to kick it up a notch. Last year, I got hurt on March 21, just as I had got it going really well." Can the Kings or Lakers be caught? "It's a little frustrating that we're where we are, but Sacramento is not a team that is going to scare you. They've got some tough games left," Brown said. "If we can somehow right this ship, we're going to be all right." All their alma maters have been eliminated from the NCAA Tournament, but the Jazz can still claim one connection to the Final Four. The Jazz borrowed George Mason's arena for a practice Jan. 10, the day after beating the Wizards. A few of the Patriots even stopped by to watch Sloan conduct practice. "Maybe we should have been watching them," Sloan joked. Stinging loss As if losing to the Kings wasn't painful enough, Sloan noted how much worse he felt after seeing Sunday night's scores. "It's amazing what transpires," Sloan grimaced. "You lose a two-point game, then Sacramento loses at home the next night, and you see how close you would be now if we had made a couple more free throws. Obviously, I probably put too much pressure on the players about the free throws. We could be right in the playoff race." Instead, the Jazz's victory Monday leaves them still two games behind the Kings, who own the tiebreaker, with 12 games to play. </div> Source
