Jazz collapse: Utah blows 22-point lead, falls at home to lowly foe

These are not the usual attributes of a playoff-bound team.

Panic. Lost composure.

But they were words that Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan and his players went to on Saturday night following another fourth-quarter collapse in a game that they had all but won.

Friday night's 17-point giveaway at Sacramento's Arco Arena almost paled in comparison to Saturday's 22-point egg laid at home in EnergySolutions Arena where the only solutions belonged to the Ray Allen-less Seattle Sonics.

Utah led 87-65 with seven seconds left in the third quarter but was outscored 41-16 over the last 12 minutes and seven seconds as the Sonics, 31-46, who won't make the playoffs and had lost their last four games, handed Utah a 106-103 loss behind a blazing second half from Rashard Lewis.

Utah (48-28) has lost its last three games to teams with losing records and has lost four of its last five games as it tries to maintain its lead over fifth-place Houston for the fourth playoff seed in the West. Houston has also lost three straight.

Lewis opened the second half with three straight baskets over Jazz rookie Ronnie Brewer, starting in placed of injured Andrei Kirilenko, and simply could not be stopped after that by Brewer, Matt Harpring, Mehmet Okur, Paul Millsap or anybody else Utah had on the roster.

"It felt like every shot I put up was going to go in," said Lewis, "so I didn't really hesitate." The Jazz had the same feeling about his shots.

"He just got on fire," said Sloan of Lewis, who finished with 35 points. "We came out soft to start the third quarter, and he got a couple or three baskets, and then all of a sudden he got going, and it didn't make any difference what we did or tried to do."

Lewis, who had seven points at the half, scored a dozen in the third quarter and 16 in the fourth, when the Sonics outdid Utah 39-16 as the Jazz threw the ball away on five possessions and shot just 33 percent after shooting 64 percent the first three quarters.

"He's a great scorer, a great shooter. He's 6-foot-10, long wingspan," the 6-7 Brewer said. "I tried to play the best defense I could, and basically he was just trying to shoot over me. He started feeling it, and I was trying to get into him and play tough defense.

"His team started going to him, and I think he really brought them back in the fourth quarter and started knocking down tough shots," said Brewer.