What's been happening is Brand misses shots early, doesn't get a lot of touches and ends up watching from the latter stages of the third quarter through the end of the game. He hasn't appeared in five of the Sixers' last six fourth periods.

Jordan doesn't seem overly concerned with the situation, saying Brand is one of 13 players on his team and that he works equally with all of them.

"Elton Brand is not as big, in my mind, as he is with you guys," Jordan said. "It's not an issue to me."

Even with Brand's $80 million contract?

"I'm not concerned about the money," Jordan said.

Jordan has been counting heavily on second-year big man Marreese Speights down the stretch of games. Speights is better able to score inside and outside than Brand and is more athletic than the two-time NBA All-Star. Still, Brand believes he holds the key to the Sixers' fortunes.

"I think I've got to be up there," Brand said. "We lost those games (in the past where) I didn't play in the fourth quarter by 30 points. I know if I'm out there doing what I need to do, it's going to be a close ballgame -- we have a chance."

JAZZ 112, SIXERS 90: Depleted Utah, which had just nine players in uniform, easily handled the Sixers despite not having star point guard Deron Williams for personal reasons. Starting rookies Eric Maynor and Wes Matthews in the backcourt, the Jazz took advantage of superior ball movement and repeated open looks to pull away to a 26-point lead on the Sixers. Maynor had 11 assists and two turnovers in 36 minutes against the Sixers' porous defense after playing a total of 31 minutes all season coming into the game.