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By DOUG ALDEN AP Sports Writer
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- The Utah Jazz fully expected to be better this season than they have for the last few.
But a 7-1 start is better than anyone could have hoped and better than the Jazz have done for a long time. It's only the third time the team has won seven of its first eight games and it hasn't happened since the lockout shortened 1999 season.
Utah's other 7-1 start was in 1989, Jerry Sloan's first full season as coach. Sloan, who took over for Frank Layden in December 1988, needs nine more wins to reach 1,000 in his career.
Sloan admits to being pleasantly surprised with how well his rookies and second-year players have caught on to his system.
"The door is opened up for you and if you want to play, that's when you step out there and say 'OK, I'm ready to go,"' Sloan said before Wednesday's practice.
So far, the youngest members of the Jazz have shown they are ready to contribute and in one case, lead.
Point guard Deron Williams is hardly playing like it's only his second year in the league. He is third on the team in scoring at 16.5 points per game and averaging 8.5 assists while leading Utah's resurgent offense, which has averaged 105.6 points in the first eight games.
Williams also leads the team with 13 steals.
"We're running. We're outscoring teams. We're getting stops when we need them," Williams said. "We're doing all the right things. It's not like it's just a fluke."
Williams had 16 points and seven assists Tuesday in Utah's 112-90 win over the Los Angeles Clippers. Rookie Ronnie Brewer went 5-for-7 with 12 points and two blocks and fellow rookie Paul Millsap had four blocks and four steals, leaving even Sloan impressed by what the Jazz got with the 47th pick in the draft.
Mostly, Sloan likes the way Millsap has listened without questioning orders.
"One thing about Paul is the good Lord was good to him and gave him two ears and he's using them. Everybody thinks they're supposed to have two mouths. There's a big difference there," Sloan said. "Once they learn that philosophy -- that you've got two ears and one mouth, they've got a better chance of listening and learning."
Utah visits Seattle on Friday, then hosts Phoenix the next night. If the Jazz win both, they'll be 9-1 and match the best 10-game start in team history. The best start for a season was 1996-97, when the Jazz opened 17-2 and went on to win the first of consecutive Western Conference championships.
The Jazz were never more than two games above .500 last season, so nobody is looking too far beyond this weekend.
"We just want to continue with it. We want to keep going and build as big of a lead as we can," Williams said. "I think it was important for us to get off to this start so we're not trying to play catch-up like we were all of last year."
The Jazz will be without forward Andrei Kirilenko (sprained ankle) and shooting guard Gordan Giricek (Achilles' tendon) at least for Friday's game. Vice president for basketball operations Kevin O'Connor said neither player will make the trip to Seattle and their status for the game against the Suns was uncertain.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) APTV-11-15-06 1720MST
