SALT LAKE CITY -- If green really does means good luck, then the Utah Jazz must really be excited for tonight's game.
When they play host to the Indiana Pacers at EnergySolutions Arena, Jazz players will be wearing green throwback uniforms like the ones the team used during the 1979-80 season, its first in Utah.
Counting tonight's game, the Jazz will wear the throwback gear 10 times this season.
Originally, the Jazz wore the green gear as an alternate road uniform.
Less than 24 hours removed from signing a one-year contract extension, Utah coach Jerry Sloan showed up for Thursday's practice session wearing a new green polo shirt with the familiar old "music note" logo worn by both New Orleans and Utah Jazz.
Sloan, a farm equipment aficionado, claimed his shirt was "John Deere green."
"I guess I'll wear it this morning," Sloan joked. "I don't think I'll wear it in the game (but) I'd like to. It's pretty comfortable."
The Jazz ride into tonight's contest on a three-game winning streak, all coming at ESA.
"It should be a fun game," point guard Deron Williams said. "I'm excited about the jerseys."
Williams wondered why the team didn't break out the jerseys last Thursday when the Jazz played host to Chicago in a nationally-televised game on Thanksgiving.
"I don't know," he said. "It's not my call."
Williams said he is a fan of the old uniforms, and several of his teammates expressed similar sentiments.
Carlos Boozer said he collected throwback jerseys as a young man, and still appreciates NBA history.
"This one was one of my favorites," he said. "And then the ones with the mountains in the background."
The Jazz changed their logo from the music note to the "mountain range" background in 1996.
Williams strongly disagreed with Boozer's take on those particular uniforms.
"The mountain logo was one of the ugliest jerseys ever to be seen in an NBA arena," he said.
Of the eight retired numbers that hang in the ESA rafters, all but one -- Jeff Hornacek's No. 14 -- have the music note logo.
Hornacek was traded to the Jazz in 1994, while they still used the old uniforms, but he opted to have the mountain range logo on his retired uniform.
"I love those jerseys," Williams said. "I know why Jeff Hornacek has a different jersey up there, but it doesn't make much sense to me. It looks kind of funny."
Speaking of looking funny, Sloan said he will resist the urge to wear an old 1970s style, wide-lapel suit for tonight's game. "We used to blow our noses on the lapel, it was so long," Sloan joked. "You didn't have to have a handkerchief because it went all the way across."
* JAZZ NOTES: C.J. Miles (left thumb) went through another full practice on Thursday and will make his season debut tonight. Andrei Kirilenko (lower back) also practiced and is expected to play tonight. Ronnie Price (left big toe) has been increasing his workload in practice. He went at half speed on Thursday and has been listed as doubtful for tonight. Kyle Korver (left knee) did some work on Thursday and will be a gametime decision for tonight. ...
The Jazz on Thursday announced forward Matt Harpring will not play this season. As the result of several surgeries on his knees and ankles, it has been determined the 11-year veteran cannot perform at an NBA level this season. However, the announcement does not mean Harpring is retiring.
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