Millsap and Gaines lead Jazz to fifth straight win

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SALT LAKE CITY -- Worries may have heightened for Jazz fans when it was announced that neither Carlos Boozer nor Deron Williams would be playing against Sacramento as the Jazz put their four-game winning streak on the line Friday night in Salt Lake City. But as Paul Millsap and Sundiata Gaines fought to keep their streak alive and hang onto their No. 4 Western Conference seat, nerves were eased one tough play at a time.

"Coming into the game, I knew I was gonna have to step my game up. Our two leading scorers, our assist leader, rebound leader is out, so somebody's gonna have to pick up that load," Millsap said. "It was a collective effort."

Starting in Boozer's absence, Millsap set a new season-high and tied his career-high of 32 points, complimenting his 14 rebounds to end the night with a double-double. Millsap also added a career-high and game-high seven assists to his stats in Utah's 101-94 win over the Kings, helping the Jazz tie their season series with Sacramento at one game a piece.

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Sloan said that although Boozer has provided incredible strength at power forward, the coaching staff would like to get Millsap more playing time regularly to utilize the boost he gives the team and continue to improve his game.

Millsap said that with Utah's recent level of play and the team's uniting desire to keep rolling down the win column, he planned on meeting Friday's challenge head-on.

"I knew I was gonna get the ball a little bit more than normal so I would have to get guys involved and, on top of that, get myself involved. I just took on the challenge let it get out there and play basketball the right way, and that's what everybody did," Millsap said.

As Millsap took care of business at power forward, backup point guard Sundiata Gaines handled things at the head of the offense. When Friday's starting commander Ronnie Price got into foul trouble in the first half, Gaines entered the game with fresh legs and gave the Jazz a surge of energy to keep the pace of the game within their control.

Gaines ended with a career-high 12 points and tallied five assists and three steals in almost 24 minutes on the hardwood, including the entire fourth quarter.

"I always gotta be ready. I never know when my card is gonna be called, so I'm always ready and when I go in the game, I wanna give the team some energy," said the newly-signed Gaines.

Andrei Kirilenko said that he's been impressed with Gaines' play in the short time he's been with the Jazz, and is proud of the way he maximizes his time on the court.

"If you take a look back at the D-League, he was playing the major role on the team. He knows how to play, and he knows how to play with confidence. I'm not surprised that he's bringing it," Kirilenko said.

As Williams and possibly Boozer return to Utah's lineup Monday, the Jazz will try to take down another Western Conference opponent as they welcome the Mavericks to Energy Solutions Arena.