"We start doing crazy things," Sloan said. "When people put pressure on us, we don't believe in an offense. When pressure really gets on, we have a tendency to think, 'Well, I've got to do it individually.' And I still don't see us having an ability to be able to do that."

Sloan sent in subs for Harpring, Okur and 20-point scorer Kirilenko with three minutes and 47 seconds remaining, and moments later that nine-point Grizzlies lead was up to 23.

All that was surprising was that it took so long to get so high, as Memphis had its way from the start.

"They took us out of our offense," Sloan said. "They pushed us around, and put us where they wanted us . . . We just let guys go to the basket without any resistance. They got so many easy baskets on us."

The Jazz came out of the first quarter tied with Memphis big man Pau Gasol at 14-14, but the Grizzlies led the period 28-14.

Utah simply had no answer for Gasol, who finished with 27 points and a career-high-tying 18 rebounds.

"He came right at us," Harpring said.

And Sloan was mystified as to why Gasol was allowed so often to whiz right by.

"It's not like we don't know what they're gonna do," the Jazz coach said. "The put him in the block, set him out there, play off of him, and somebody gets it and does what they want to do if he doesn't decide to take it himself."

Still, the Jazz were at a loss for how to handle Gasol, who scored 32 in the Dec. 26 meeting.

"He's a tough guy to stop, because you go double him, he passes; you don't double him, he scores. That's tough," Williams added. "He came out and played great the first half and got them off to a good start, and we were never able to catch up."

Even if for a fleeting moment it seemed like they might.

Again.

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E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com