"We didn't play hard. We didn't get up for the game," Williams said one night after a 16-point, 12-assist effort in the Jazz's uplifting 116-111 home victory Friday over Carmelo Anthony, Allen Iverson and the Denver Nuggets. "It looked like a few guys played hard at times, and that's it. ... It takes a lot away from the win we had (Friday) night because we come here and perform like this."

"You can make a lot of excuses," veteran forward Matt Harpring added after an off 2-for-10 shooting night, "but the bottom line is we came out sluggish and we didn't play well. We just weren't moving. It was not a good game for us."

The 18-25 Hornets — themselves playing without star point Chris Paul (sprained ankle) and swingman Peja Stojakovic (back surgery) for some time now — scored the game's first bucket and led the rest of the way.

New Orleans/Oklahoma City was up by six when Boozer exited, by 12 heading into the break, by as many as 13 early in the fourth quarter and by a comfy 11 after 21-point team-high scorer Bobby Jackson closed the case with the second of his two final-period 3-pointers to make it 88-77 with 1:46 remaining.

"They got after us," Sloan said. "We kind of wanted to stand around. That's what happens when you're looking for an out — you start standing ... They beat us down the floor for layups. They got offensive rebounds a couple times, and we didn't even know where the ball was.

"I'm disappointed in our performance, I'll tell you that. I was proud of our team (Friday) night, because everybody stepped out on the floor. And that's the way it's supposed to be every night.

"(Saturday) night," he added, "it's like we'd never seen each other on a couple occasions as far as our offense is concerned. And then we couldn't find out who we're guarding on the other end of the floor. That's a huge concern."

And a rather painful one, apparently, as well.

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E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com