Road woes continue for Jazz

CHARLOTTE — They arrived here from Atlanta with a six-game road losing streak. One starter was missing. So was a key reserve.

And just when it seemed like things couldn't get much worse for the Jazz, they did. In droves, like coal lumps filling a big red stocking that now runneth over.

Charlotte beat Utah 98-92 on Wednesday night, adding mental misery to the reality of a stretch with losses in eight of its last nine games overall and seven in a row outside of EnergySolutions Arena.

All eight have come in similar fashion, with debilitating collapses generally happening sometime in the latter half of each fourth quarter.

"It definitely is on our mind," point guard Deron Williams said of a recent run of ineptitude that leaves the Jazz without a road victory since Nov. 28 — three long weeks ago. "There's no way it can't be."

Compounding matters is the way this one went down:

The Jazz were up by 12 after Andrei Kirilenko knocked down a pair of free throws with five minutes and 54 seconds remaining, then they watched almost helplessly — while bumbling their way against the Bobcats' zone defense — as Charlotte retook the lead with a 13-0 run.

Utah (14-13) ended up getting outscored 24-6 in the final 5:44 by a 9-14 Charlotte club that had lost 10 of its previous 12 games, sending coach Jerry Sloan's slumping team to Orlando for Friday's third outing in a four-game pre-Christmas trip wondering what it will take to finally win one away from home.

"We're trying to do whatever we can to get a win," power forward Carlos Boozer said after a 21-point, 15-rebound effort that marked his 21st double-double in 26 games.

"I think we're fighting hard. Maybe a little too hard," Boozer added. "But, at the same time, we're desperate, so we're doing everything we can — maybe sometimes to a fault. But I'd rather have that than for it to not happen."

Adding ugliness to the Jazz's already repulsive road routine was a sideshow involving Sloan and veteran shooting guard Gordan Giricek.

Already down two players because starting center Mehmet Okur missed his fifth consecutive game with a strained left shoulder and backup small forward Matt Harpring missed his third straight while dealing with gastrointestinal issues, Utah lost another when — after a heated exchange of words — Sloan sent Giricek first to the locker room during a second-quarter timeout and later back home to Salt Lake City.

The Jazz's real problems, though, are much bigger than any one player.

Rather, they pivot on issues of offensive execution — chiefly turnover troubles and an inability to crack zone defenses.