The Jazz really haven't been right since, and it all came to a head in Monday's loss to the Spurs.

The point guards' play: inconsistent at best, with Milt Palacio shooting just 1 of 4 with three points against San Antonio, Keith McLeod dishing just three assists despite playing 29 minutes and rookie back Deron Williams being allowed just nine minutes on the floor Monday.

The shooting guards struggled, one Gordan Giricek, hitting just 1 of 10 from the field vs. the Spurs, and another Devin Brown, sitting throughout the entire second half against his old San Antonio team.

The big men, save for Jarron Collins scoring an uncharacteristic 15 Monday, aren't playing very big at all.

And the scorers have had trouble scoring, with Andrei Kirilenko limited to 10 points while Mehmet Okur scored just nine against San Antonio for his first single-digit game since he mustered only five in Denver.

"It's just a matter of us trying to understand what we're trying to do," said Sloan, who lumped the woes of everyone with the Jazz together Tuesday. "We've lost, what, seven out of nine games? We need production out of everybody.

"I can single out different situations for everybody, myself included," he added. "I've made mistakes."

Sloan did not expound.

But Harpring, make no mistake, was willing to offer more on what it will take to realize that a turnaround can be right around the corner.

"We're playing good teams, but we can beat these good teams," he said, pointing to Utah's two wins this season over league-leading Detroit. "We just go through some ruts during part of the game where we really can afford to do so.

"We play well in spurts, but all of a sudden we get away from what we're doing. And you just can't do that. No good teams do that. Good teams go out, and they play pretty consistent the whole game."

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E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com