Offense flops in Jazz loss

Before the 2003-04 NBA season began, few figured the Jazz would be hovering near .500 going into the league's annual All-Star Game break.

By the same token, few had reason to suspect that 53 games into the season, a Jerry Sloan-coached club still would not have figured out how to run its offense.

Both realities were evident, however, in Utah's 77-66 loss to the Midwest Division-leading Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night at the sold-out Delta Center.

Even after losing for the fourth straight time at home, the Jazz — coming off a couple of road wins at Phoenix and Portland — are 26-27. That's far beyond the number of victories many preseason prognosticators pegged on Utah — for the season, let alone before the break.

What Sloan chose to dwell on after falling to the 37-15 'Wolves, however, is the way the Jazz's offense fell apart in Wednesday's second half.

Minnesota used a 6-1 burst capped by a Kevin Garnett dunk to break open a 45-45 game in the final few minutes of the third quarter, and led by four or more throughout the fourth, including double digits in the game's final one minute and 49 seconds.

"I just think that we lose confidence in ourselves when we come out and walk through what we're doing, and we don't really get into the offense until after the (shot) clock is run down," said Sloan, whose club is off until opening a four-game trip at Miami on Tuesday night. "And I don't know if it's because we are tired from having played (Tuesday night in Portland), or the other team (Minnesota) is a little too tough for us to deal with."

After an exhausting win against the Trail Blazers led the late-game heroics of starting point guard Carlos Arroyo, it could be the former.

But with the Timberwolves getting 24 points and seven assists from first-time All-Star point Sam Cassell, plus another 17 points and 12 rebounds from seven-time All-Star forward Garnett, it could just as well be the latter.

More likely, though, it may be because the young, rebuilding Jazz still haven't learned to how to consistently run their offense the Sloan way.

Rather, they tend to break down when times get tough.

"Instead of using the offense to get a good shot," Sloan said, "we play with the idea, 'Let it (the shot clock) run down, and fire the 3.' "