SALT LAKE CITY (Ticker) -- Raja Bell and Matt Harpring never will be confused with John Stockton and Karl Malone, but they have the Utah Jazz off to the best home start they've ever had.
Bell scored a career-high 25 points off the bench and Harpring added 24, leading the Jazz to a 98-81 romp over the Seattle SuperSonics.
The Jazz led wire-to-wire and tied a team record for the best start to a season at home. Utah has won eight of its first nine at the Delta Center, as it did last season when Stockton and Malone were still around.
"If you had told me before I saw the team that we were going to be where we are, it would have surprised me," said Bell, who shot 7-of-12 from the field. "But like I said from the beginning of training camp, we like our team and we think we've got a real good team."
This year's edition of the Jazz was projected to be one of the worst teams in the NBA. But Utah has won three in a row overall to remain close to the top of the Midwest Division.
"They're a tough team," said Seattle rookie guard Luke Ridnour, who scored 11 points on 4-of-9 shooting off the bench. "They play real hard and make a lot of things happen."
Ridnour got the SuperSonics within 77-69 with 8:22 left, but they got no closer down the stretch.
Harpring added 10 rebounds and Andrei Kirilenko pulled down 12 for the Jazz, who held a 44-30 advantage on the boards.
Utah played without center Greg Ostertag, who was benched by coach Jerry Sloan for violating unspecified team rules.
"He just didn't play and we compensated with Jarron Collins starting," Sloan said. "You go on about your business, but that's all behind us and Greg will be in the next game."
Collins scored eight points, hitting both of his shots from the field and all four free throws. He grabbed one rebound and blocked a shot.
Brent Barry scored 20 points, but the SuperSonics were unable to compensate for the absence of Rashard Lewis, who was not with the team following the death of his brother.
"We miss him," said Seattle guard Ronald Murray, who scored a season-low nine points on 4-of-14 shooting. "It hurt us a little, but we still could have won the game without him. We didn't go out there and play aggressive defense."
The Sonics shot 40 percent (28-of-70) from the field but allowed the Jazz to shoot 50 percent (33-of-66).
