Jazz drop Hawks

ATLANTA — Point guards bailing out early on the offense. A loose ball on the floor, and no one in a hurry to go after it. No energy, no focus, little will to win.

Jerry Sloan saw a lot he did not like Saturday night.

He also saw the Jazz beat Atlanta 87-81 for their second straight victory and their third in a now-concluded stretch of five in a row on the road.

As a result, Utah has moved into a tie with Denver at 36-34 — though the idle Nuggets still hold rights to the eighth and last playoff position in the NBA's Western Conference, since they are up 3-0 in the four-game season series between the two postseason hopefuls.

The win and its implications, however, seemed to matter little to a coach who expected so much more against a 22-48 Hawks club with little motivation beyond personal pride.

"I didn't know if we were gonna get enough energy to look like we knew what we were doing to play the game," said Sloan, whose Jazz arrived in Atlanta following a 97-88 win at Cleveland one night earlier.

"We play the game (Friday) night and have good focus on what we're trying to do from the start to finish," he added. "(Saturday night), we didn't have the focus at all to know what we were doing on so many possessions. I mean, it was just a hodgepodge."

Hodgepodge in an opening half the Jazz led by just three, 47-44. Hodgepodge in a third quarter they lost 23-17. Hodgepodge in failing to score on four of their first five possessions of the fourth quarter.

A team vying for a place in the postseason?

Hogwash, Sloan suggested after seeing more hodgepodge than even a farmer from Illinois could handle.

"I just was disappointed in the way we came out," he said, "and our concentration wasn't there to do the right thing — both ends of the floor — so many times.

"One time the ball was laying loose down there. We had three guys that have a chance at it, and we run away from it," Sloan added. "I mean, I don't understand that. If you think you want to be a playoff team, (you don't) let things like that happen, do you?

"If you're gonna be tough enough to play at another level — in the playoffs, if you get there — then this is the time you have to understand (that)."

Which is basically the same message Sloan delivered the first time he had a chance.

"Coach," big man Mikki Moore said, "kind of got into us at halftime, telling us we need to be ready."

The result, eventually?

"Guys got ready," Moore said. "Had to get ready. I wish I could have showed them I was ready."