Harpring takes pride in working hard, being a pest to opposing players News Boston Celtics

The Utah Jazz's win over the Boston Celtics late Thursday night was physical, scrappy, even ugly at times. It was much more of a defensive slugfest than an offensive masterpiece. In other words, it was about as good as it gets for Matt Harpring. He thrived getting under Paul Pierce's skin and basically being an annoyance to the All-Star while helping Utah rally for an exciting 90-85 win.

Forget Disneyland, skiing or bowling, pestering players like Pierce is what Harpring considers having a blast. "Yeah, it's fun. I've said that all along in my whole career. I love doing that," Harpring said. "This is why you play the game of Basketball is times like this." Harpring's gritty "D" helped contain Pierce, who missed three shots in a row late in the fourth quarter when Jazz coach Jerry Sloan kept the veteran small forward in because he liked the hound job he was doing. "Matt Harpring, I can't say enough about him," Sloan said. "He did everything he could to try to guard Pierce ? and that's a load to try to do, but he really did a terrific job." Pierce finished with a game-high 20 points for Boston, but he missed 12 of 19 shots and committed five turnovers in the process while being pestered. "I was just trying to get up on him, try to make him feel uncomfortable," Harpring said. "? If he doesn't like it, it's not my job to make him comfortable. My job's to make him uncomfortable and just play the game." It was a bonus for the Jazz that Harpring also brought his offensive "A" game as well. He led the Jazz bench with 13 points, including the go-ahead jumper with a minute left. "All that hard work stuff you do in the summertime, it makes this fun," Harpring said. "It's rewarding when you go out there and get a win over a team like that." Deron Williams believes there are certain situations that really suit Harpring's style, and this was one of them. "Matt loves to play against those type of guys like Paul Pierce who relies on posting up, relies on his strength," Williams said. "And Matt can just wear guys out. He's in the weight room right now probably. That's all he does." SLUMPING TIMES? Shooting guard Kyle Korver has shot only 2-for-16 in the past two games and he's hit just 3 of 18 3-pointers in his last four outings. "Hopefully, he'll work out of it," Sloan said. The coach suggests that struggling shooters try to take the ball inside and then go outside. But going into a shooting slump won't automatically put you at the end of Sloan's bench. For one thing, the coach likes how even just the threat of Korver stretches out defenses. He also likes how he's "doing the other things." Though Korver only snatched two boards Thursday, he averaged 7.1 rebounds over the previous six games. "I thought he did a fairly decent job trying to defend," Sloan said. "I thought he got some rebounds for us. Shows he's competing." HARD-PLAYING PHILOSOPHY: Speaking of playing hard, Harpring admitted that he admires players such as Kevin Garnett and Allen Iverson who always seem to give it their all ? well, at least in games. Though he lacks the star power of those two, Harpring tries to play with the same consistent effort. "I think you have a respect from people around the league who know Basketball when you can play hard every night. It's admirable," Harpring said. "When you're young and you want to make some money in this league, you've got to play hard every night. They want consistency." Jazz REUNION: Williams was surprised that Friday's practice was the first this season in which all 15 players fully participated, including Carlos Boozer. "I'm happy everybody's back," he said. "I'm happy everybody's healthy and hopefully we can stay like that." As for the surprised part, it had slipped Williams' mind that Harpring missed training camp while dealing with his infected and surgically repaired ankle. Williams then hurt his ankle and the season of injuries began. Williams joked that it was a conspiracy on Harpring's part. "We expect that, though, it's no big deal ?," Williams quipped. "He planned that whole infection thing. That was all planned ? all to get out of training camp." E-mail: jody@desnews.com