"Calls didn't go our way, really. Things didn't go our way," said Williams, who has scored 26 or more in all four series games. "But you've got to give it up to them — they made plays down the stretch.

"They kept their cool; we didn't," Williams added. "We lost our composure a little bit, and it's something we really haven't done this playoff series. You know, we've been the people that kept our heads, stayed focus, stayed in there and kept fighting."

This time, the Jazz wound up getting tagged with five technicals — two each in the fourth quarter on Fisher, who was ejected in the final minute, and Sloan, and one on guard Gordan Giricek in the second quarter.

It was part of a Utah meltdown that resulted after a long night of calls they perceived did not go their way, though Sloan had little to say about that afterward.

"I don't talk about those," the Jazz coach said when asked the circumstances of the technicals and his ejection, "because all that does is give me more trouble."

Pressed on the matter, Sloan said, "I said I wouldn't talk about that."

What he was willing to discuss, though, was his satisfaction with the Jazz's effort — even if it did come in a losing cause.

"It is very difficult," he said of being down 3-1 to a team that has won three titles since 1999, "but I was proud the way — I thought our guys played their hearts out.

"I thought they competed about as much as you can ask guys to compete. You know we came up short."

They did, even if only during a three-minute skid of terror that made all their other troubles seem so mild.

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E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com