I was more disappointed in our veteran players. You know, you can be upset with the young players ? but some of them haven't had an opportunity to be on the floor.

I'm not upset about it, not disappointed about it. I think they need that. I really do, because these players deserve better.

"I tell the players, 'I'm sorry that you got hurt, but there's not a thing I can do about it'. You've got to go forward. That's the only thing I know. That's what I've tried to convey to our players.

I tell the players, 'I'm sorry that you got hurt, but there's not a thing I can do about it'. You've got to go forward. That's the only thing I know. That's what I've tried to convey to our players. We've been fortunate here. Our organization for 18 years had very few injuries when John [Stockton] and Karl [Malone] were here ... I understood all along we were fortunate our guys stayed healthy. That's life in the NBA. If you don't like it, there's other jobs.

[And the schedule still includes the scenarios Sloan believes are most important: A couple of back-to-backs, so players get used to playing and traveling on the same day, and a stretch of three games in four days.] Let them experience a day off in there, and see if they can keep themselves ready, ... It's important to see if any of them try to take the third game off.

I'm not disappointed. I'm upbeat. I think we had some defensive lapses. I think Thaddeus (Young) got too unselfish. He tried to get people the ball, but those people got the ball and missed.