Jazz still have a lot of growing up to do

SAN ANTONIO — Maybe Jerry Sloan is right — the Jazz really have grown up a lot in these playoffs.

You can't call them kids anymore.

Except for, oh, 12 minutes a night. Then they're spilling their milk and tracking mud into the house.

So go ahead and psychoanalyze them. Two games in the Western Conference playoffs, two AWOL second quarters. The rest of the time, they're as adult as a high school principal if only they could play just the first, third and fourth quarters.

For those counting — and by now it's getting ridiculous — the Jazz have lost 18 straight games in San Antonio, thanks to Tuesday's 105-96 loss. They return for Saturday's Game 3 in Salt Lake trailing 0-2 in the series. Yes, they've been in this place before, in the first round of the playoffs. No, it's not the same situation. Last time it was against Houston, this is the three-time champion San Antonio Spurs.

And so it goes. For a dozen minutes or so a game, the Jazz look scared, confused and slightly out of place. Not unlike a guest at an exclusive country club, half expecting to be recognized as an interloper.

It's also like being a teenager. You feel as all grown up, able handle anything, and then you do something stupid. Chalk it up to youth-induced insanity.

Whenever the Jazz would mount a comeback on Tuesday, "we would shoot ourselves in the foot," said Sloan.

Figuring out what the Jazz are doing is easy enough, if you ask Sloan. They're losing ground early, then pushing the panic button. As he puts it, his team tends to "drop their heads and take shots."

Ignoring those temporary lapses, it's a heckuva series. The Jazz have been outscored 63-33 in the second quarter. In all others combined, the Jazz lead 163-160.

"I don't think we've put together a full game, where we really put it out there," said Sloan. "I mean, second quarters kill us, obviously."

Despite the Jazz's growing confidence, and expanding experience, they didn't look entirely ready to beat the Spurs on either day. They shot just 23 percent for the first quarter on Sunday. Amazingly, they only trailed by three after 12 minutes.

But then things started slipping. In the second quarter, they scored just 16 points and fell behind by 19. A second half rally made the outcome respectable.