Jazzhoops   The Comforts of Home by Stef Siepel They have won five games in Salt Lake City; they only lost one (against Detroit without Malone and with Amaechi). They are on a four game home winning streak, beating the Timberwolves, Hawks, Bulls and Suns. The Jazz won each of those games by outscoring their opponents with more than ten points, in some cases even twenty. Superstar Kevin Garnett, who gathered a triple-double against the Sacramento Kings two days earlier, was talking to himself as he walked off the court, and he wasn't telling himself he did a good job. It seems that the magic of the Delta Center is back, and that teams once again have to fear the Delta Center, home of the Utah Jazz. The Bulls, Suns and Hawks aren't really considered to be top teams, and that's why the fifth win in the Delta Center this season was so important. For the players themselves, but also to silence the people criticizing the winning streak the Jazz have at home. Coming off a win against the Kings, the Minnesota Timberwolves, without Wally Sczcerbiak, came to the Delta Center. But the Delta Center worked it's magic, and so did Matt Harpring. In another home win, Matt Harpring, who was signed as a free agent last summer, scored a career high 33 points to give the Jazz the victory. Harpring defended Kevin Garnett most of the time, although he often got some help from other Jazz players. The Jazz defense was one of the main reasons the Timberwolves shot 37% from the field. It also was one of the main reasons why Kevin Garnett, who normally only talks to himself in television commercials, left the court muttering. A sight Jazz fans hadn't seen in a long time. Garnett didn't only talk while walking off the court, but when he was on the court he also said some things to Matt Harping. "It's fun. It's a lot of fun," Harpring said. "It's fun to play the superstars and get in their head and let them start talking to you, then you know you got to them." And he indeed got to him, as Matt Harpring contained Garnett, who only scored 21 points, which was still a team-high. Matt Harpring, and the rest of the team, threw off the Timberwolves with their defense. "The way we switched it up [defensively], they didn't know until late in the shot clock if we were man or zone. Then we got them to take some quick shots, and we were off to the races. They've got a big lineup so they can punish us inside. But we got them in a running game and they couldn't keep up." Andrei Kirilenko finished with 3 blocks, but it was Greg Ostertag with 4 blocks in 19 minutes who led the team in that category. The Delta Center saw not only great defense and good offense, but the hustle plays were back as well. "They just made all the hustle plays," said Minnesota's Rod Strickland, who had 12 points and four assists off the bench. "Offensive rebounds, loose balls and easy baskets in transition." This win proved that the Delta Center got some of its magic back. The Timberwolves had won four of its last five visits to the Delta Center, and they saw their three game road winning streak snapped. Meanwhile, the Jazz saw their home winning streak grow. In their six home games they have scored 593 points, while their opponents only scored 512 points. A quick return to the math class makes it clear that the Jazz scored 81 points more than their opponents in those six home games. That means the Jazz average 13.5 points per game more than their opponents in the Delta Center, despite losing one of those games with 80-78. But will that magic also work against the top teams in the league? The next six home games are against the Indiana Pacers, Los Angeles Lakers, Memphis Grizzlies, New Orleans Hornets, Sacramento Kings, and the Orlando Magic. If you want to find four of these teams, then you only have to look at the top of the league standings. One of the other two teams still has Shaquille O'Neal, who, by that time, will be almost totally recovered from his injury. With such a schedule it is hard to believe the Delta Center crowd will continue to see nothing but wins. But then again, the Delta Center proved this year that it is hard for opponents to get away with a win. The Suns, a team with Shawn Marion and Stephon Marbury, lost to the Jazz with 96-79. The Timberwolves lost with 95-77. Those games aren't just wins, they are convincing wins. On the road the Jazz still stumble every once in a while, but at home no team has found a way to beat a healthy Jazz team yet. Maybe the Pacers will be the first, or maybe the Magic will find an escape route out of the Delta Center while stealing a win, but the first part of the season already made one thing clear: the Delta Center is on its way to making itself one of those feared arenas. Who likes to go to the First Union Center, where there hasn't been a team all season that got away with a win? And who likes to go to Arco Arena, where the local team seems to rule like kings? Outside the Arco Arena the Kings have lost 5 out of 10, but none of the teams in the NBA has been able to get away with a win from the Arco Arena. The Delta Center could be one of those arenas, an arena where the opponent doesn't want to go. An arena where winning seems impossible. Whether the Delta Center indeed obtains that status will be seen in the next six games. But no matter what the outcome is, the Delta Center at least got some of its old magic back. And that's what the crowd wanted.