Jazz continue to fail fourth-quarter tests

For Christmas, all the Jazz should want is a way to learn how to play in the fourth.

Final quarters largely were Utah's demise on a five-game road trip that ended with Friday night's loss in New York, one of four outings in a 1-4 Eastern swing in which the Jazz either led or were within two points at some point in the fourth.

"I think they want to do well — but they've got to overcome the fear of failure, I guess," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said of those on his 11-16 team. "That seems to be something that looks them in the eye when we get in the fourth quarter.

"I've always said: 'Just about everybody can play in this game until you get down to the last four, five minutes of it.' Now, how do you defend? How is your decision-making?"

For the Jazz, answers to the two questions at the end of the trip were "not very well" and "even worse."

Jazz rookie point guard Deron Williams had little luck whatsoever trying to guard Knicks point Stephon

Marbury.

Utah committed 23 turnovers Friday in New York, 23 in a loss Wednesday at Boston, 21 in a losing effort the night before that in Cleveland, and 15 when the trip got under way Dec. 16 at Indiana.

The Jazz were outscored 29-22 in the fourth by New York, 27-20 in the last 12 minutes by Boston.

Against the Celtics, they were down by just four in the fourth before a missed Mehmet Okur jumper and three straight turnovers took them out of it. Against the Knicks, the Jazz were down three in the fourth when Okur missed another jumper and everything seemed to spin out of control.

"We," Sloan, who scheduled a Christmas night practice for his struggling team even before Friday's loss, said after going down in New York, "still have the same problem: trying to be able to handle the basketball, and be able to make plays."

With a back-to-back set coming Monday night at home vs. Memphis and Tuesday night at Houston — not much of a break after such a grueling trip — Sloan and the Jazz can only hope their issues are resolved soon after the Christmas holiday.

Because the way things have been going lately, it's all too much akin to getting coal in the stocking and seeing a broken bike under the tree.

"We can't get over that hump," rookie big man Robert Whaley said.

"We want to get some wins," Williams added before the Jazz took a quite long flight back to Utah from New York on Friday night. "We're just coming up a little short."

Because of it, the Jazz — losers of three straight, and five of their last eight outings — aren't exactly long on holiday cheer these days.

"I'm just sick of losing," curt captain Matt Harpring said. "That's it."

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E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com