Once-hot Jazz stuck in rut

They started 6-1, playing as if the world was at their feet. Now they're 7-5, losers of four of their last five, and it seems as if it is all crashing down on them.

As the world turns, the Jazz endure more plot twists than an afternoon soap.

"There's that stage, when things kind of get a little nasty," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said. "And they are right now. I can't deny that."

Starting point guard Carlos Arroyo returns after missing six straight games with a sprained ankle, and all goes south. Forward Matt Harpring misses a trio of games with a bruised knee, and Utah loses two of the three. Scoring leader Carlos Boozer averages 26.5 points on a four-game road trip, then musters just 26 total in back-to-back losses to previously winless New Orleans and Chicago.

So much is so wrong, and the Jazz want to know why.

They do, however, have some hunches.

"Until we learn to play together as a team and do the things to help your teammates, we won't win," co-captain Raja Bell said. "It'll be a long year if we don't do those things."

Things like buying into the offense, especially when outcomes are on the line. Like playing together. Like finding an answer to opponents who have already figured out how to answer them.

With all that in mind, and a visit from the Houston Rockets on tap tonight to cap a so-far miserable three-game homestand for the Jazz, let's break down the woes:

LAST-MINUTE BREAKDOWNS

The Jazz's last three losses all were games that could have been won in the final minute.

An overtime loss at Miami last Friday. A one-point Monday loss to New Orleans in which All-Star Andrei Kirilenko missed two free throws and starting shooting guard Gordan Giricek missed an 18-foot jumper, all in the final five seconds. A two-point Wednesday loss to Chicago in which the Jazz committed three turnovers — an errant pass by backup point guard Howard Eisley, a bad pass by Boozer and a critical charge by Harpring — in the final four minutes.

"When the game's on the line," Giricek said, "you have to have great execution."

And the Jazz have not — perhaps because not everyone involved seems to trust in their offensive system.