SPORTS: EXTRA POINT: Jazz team chemistry peaks as Price shares guard love

Amid all the pushing and shoving, all the banging and bruising, the bad backs, the flagrant fouls and the stitches, there came a smidgen of sweetness to this Jazz-Lakers boxing match we're calling a basketball series.

And no, I'm not talking about the relationship between Kobe Bryant and the referees.

Rimshot, please.

Before Monday morning's practice session, a group of reporters gathered around Jazz guard Ronnie Price, peppering him with questions about the Lakers, specifically Sunday's flagrant foul and subsequent stitches he received and what it's like to play backup to dazzling Deron Williams.

At one point, Price paid Williams a great compliment, calling him the "best point guard in the league."

Later, Williams caught wind of that and returned the compliment.

"Well," he said, "he's the best backup in the league then."

Take note, Jazz fans. Your team's chemistry is good right now, probably as good as its ever been.

The guards like the forwards, the forwards like the centers, the starters like the backups and the backups like the coaches.

And these days, they all love Price.

Funny, isn't it? This kid Price, the one who played his college ball down at Utah Valley State, the one who played a couple of seasons for the Sacramento Kings and even threw down a did-you-just-see-that dunk on Carlos Boozer back in 2006, that kid has become wildly popular with fans and teammates alike.

Really, what's not to like?

At 6-foot-2 and 190 pounds, he's the smallest guy on the team. And yet there he is, scrapping and hustling and never backing down.

It seemed as though everyone at EnergySolutions Arena felt badly for him Sunday afternoon when L.A.'s Ronny Turiaf hammered him to the floor and opened a cut above one of his eyes.

And it seemed everyone -- the Jazz fans, at least -- felt a huge sense of pride when, in the fourth quarter, Price sprinted down the floor to swat away what would have been an easy layup for the Lakers' Luke Walton.

Jazz coach Jerry Sloan noticed and it caused him to actually dote on young Mr. Price.

"I've been around a long time," Sloan said, telling the truth. "But Ronnie Price, I thought he was ... people look at numbers and baskets and stuff, but the last two games he's made a couple of great plays that have really been over and above what you'd expect out of a player."

Did you catch that, people?

Sloan has two kinds of expectations for his players: High and Unreachable. And yet was only too happy to note that Price had exceeded his expectations.

"That's always rewarding to see because a lot of guys don't get the time they deserve," he added. "He probably deserves a little bit more time, but he's playing behind Deron Williams and that's a tough place to be for playing time. But he's handled it very professionally and he works hard every day. That'll make him a better player in the long run, that's what being a professional athlete is all about."

Of course Sloan isn't alone.

Price played so well Sunday afternoon that when Sloan asked Williams about going back into the game in the fourth quarter, he declined and took a few more seconds of rest.

"Coach wanted me to go back in the fourth and I said, 'No I'm gonna rest for a couple of minutes,' " he said, smiling wryly.

"I wasn't planning on resting that long, but he was playing so well and the offense was going so well, I just sat out while he was doing his thing.

"He's played great this series, giving us a lot of energy, diving for loose balls, making hustle plays, blocking people's shots. He's playing great."

Pretty sweet, huh?