Hot Rod may have called his last home game News Minnesota Timberwolves

For Logan resident and Jazz fan Mike Miller, following his favorite NBA team won't be the same following Utah's current playoff appearance. Like many local Basketball fans, Miller is saddened by the retirement of longtime Jazz broadcaster Hot Rod Hundley. After 35 years of announcing Jazz games ? in New Orleans and Utah ?

Hundley announced on Friday that he will retire at the end of the season. quot;It's pretty sad for me,quot; Miller said. quot;I've watched him since I've been into Basketball and been a Jazz fan ? probably since I was 10 years old. I was sad when he got off TV, now it's really going to be sad when he's off the radio.quot; Miller said he would sometimes turn the TV down and turn the radio up to listen to Hundley's play-by-play since he became a radio-only announcer in the 2005-06 season. quot;Hot Rod is one of the best announcers there ever has been and ever will be,quot; said Logan resident and Jazz fan Cody Johnson. quot;I think Hot Rod kind of has his own little niche. With his voice you can instantly tell it's him.quot; Fans who have followed the Jazz since they've been in Utah will no longer hear Hundley describe quot;hippity-hops,quot; quot;leapin-leanersquot; and leave listeners in suspense by saying a shot will be quot;good if it goes.quot; quot;He's a legend,quot; Miller said. quot;He's the voice of a generation,quot; Johnson said. quot;It's one thing I miss nowadays, not hearing him (on TV). He was the Jazz to me.quot; Obvious candidates to replace Hundley are Bees play-by-play man Steve Klauke and 1320 talk-show host David Locke. Johnson and Miller both said they'd prefer to have Craig Bolerjack simulcast on TV and radio the way Hundley did for so many years with the Jazz. THE HARPRING PLAN: Jazz coach Jerry Sloan on Saturday acknowledged he intentionally limited the regular-season playing time of veteran forward Matt Harpring ? who has a knee that's been surgically repaired three times and who experienced complications from offseason ankle surgery ? in hopes he could help during the playoffs. quot;For what I'd been told about what was going on with him, I tried to do what I thought was best,quot; Sloan said. Said Harpring: quot;He talked about, at the beginning, trying to save my body and extend my career out.quot; The plan is paying dividends. Harpring had eight points in Game 1, 10 in Game 3 and four points while playing nine minutes in Saturday's Game 4. DOWN ON THE FARM: With the Utah Flash having lost 0-2 to Colorado in the NBA Development League's title series, shooting guard Morris Almond is back with the Jazz and will travel to Los Angeles for Monday's Game 5. The 2007 first-round draft choice's contract option for next season wasn't exercised by the Jazz, and he isn't in their plans for next season. The Jazz aren't obligated to bring Almond to L.A., but will anyway. BIG ASSIST: Jazz point guard Deron Williams' Point of Hope Foundation, Questar Gas and the team presented a $21,000 donation to REACH ? a charity program that helps low-income, elderly and disabled Utahns pay their gas bills ? before Game 5. The dollar amount represents $200 for each of the 105 assists Williams distributed during Jazz regular-season home games in March and April. Williams' wife, Amy, represented the foundation for the check presentation. KIRILENKO NINTH SIXTH MAN: Jazz forward Andrei Kirilenko finished ninth in NBA Sixth Man of the Year award voting. He received one second-place and two third-place votes from a panel of 121 sportswriters/broadcasters, and finished behind, in order, Dallas' Jason Terry, Denver's J.R. Smith, New York's Nate Robinson, the Lakers' Lamar Odom, Portland's Travis Outlaw, San Antonio's Manu Ginobili, Atlanta's Flip Murray and Denver's Chris Andersen. PRESEASON PLANS: The Jazz's October calendar is starting to fill. A preseason game against Chicago in London next October previously was announced, and another ? likely against a European club team ? still is expected. It's also known now that the Jazz will play in the Lakers' annual quot;Shootout at Staples Center,quot; with one preseason game scheduled against the Los Angeles Clippers on Oct. 17 and another on Oct. 18 against the previous night's Lakers-Charlotte winner. E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com; aaragon@desnews.com