"Boy did he stick out like a sore thumb," the Jazz coach said of Williams' backup. "I mean, he was all over the place. He's working, and trying to get something going. And I'm looking around, (wondering) where is the rest of everybody else?"

Utah still was within five with 3:31 left, but that's when the Jazz's comeback steam went dry.

Giricek was called for a body foul on a trey try by Portland's Brandon Roy, and Roy — who scored nine of his 16 points in the fourth — hit all three free throws.

Giricek later suggested he might have bumped bodies with Roy.

"I mean, just slight contact," he said. "He (Roy) fall on the floor, (the official) called the foul. What can I say, right?"

The Jazz's next two possessions ended with unsuccessful plays by Williams, one a turnover and the other a missed layup as he drove the lane.

"You can't do it by yourself," Sloan said.

What you can do it with, the Jazz coach added, is something of which Utah showed not nearly enough.

"You've got to play this game with emotion," he said.

The Jazz did not, and Sloan thinks it's reflective of larger issues for last season's NBA Western Conference finalists.

"Now maybe we've established ourselves — and don't think we have to prove it every game," said Sloan, whose Jazz visit Phoenix tonight to close a back-to-back set and start a stretch with six of seven away from home.

"That's a concern I have," Sloan added. "Because you have to prove it every day, whoever you are. You have to come and really give a good effort. Anything other than that is really not good enough for us to win, because we really aren't that talented."

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E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com