Utah Jazz: Road-weary Jazz tripped up by Nets

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The Jazz played their best hand of a four-game trip Friday night in Boston, where they convincingly beat the NBA-leading Celtics.

But by Saturday night in New Jersey, where the Nets used Richard Jefferson's runner with 1.5 seconds remaining for a 117-115 victory at Izod Center, all the credibility they had built came crashing down like a windswept house of cards.

"We have to learn," coach Jerry Sloan, "that it doesn't make a difference what happened yesterday.

"You've got to come with a full deck to start with today, and if you want to be tired, act like you're tired, or whatever," he added, "then you're probably not going to do much. And I thought we started off tired."

They did, and by the time the Northwest Division-leading Jazz were finished they really were beat.

The 28-38 Nets outscored them 62-48 in the paint, and got 27 points from Jefferson, 25 by Vince Carter, a season-high 21 from Josh Boone, 19 (plus a career-high 12 assists) from Devin Harris and 16 off the bench from Bostjan Nachbar.

But it was the last two from Jefferson that hurt most.

He first blew past Andrei Kirilenko to his right, denying the Jazz defender a chance to funnel him to the middle like Sloan's defensive system demands.

"I don't want to foul him," Kirilenko said, "because you can't put him on the line."

So Jefferson was able to drive into the lane, rise in front of Ronnie Brewer and Carlos Boozer and release a 5-foot runner that found its mark, leaving Sloan to bemoan how easily the Nets star scored.

"You would have thought we'd try to push him the other way," the Jazz coach said after his 44-24 club finished its four-games-in-five-nights trip 2-2. "But we didn't get the job done. And you have to give (Jefferson) credit, because he's a great player, too, and can get to where he wants to go."

The Jazz did have one last shot, as Kirilenko inbounded to Mehmet Okur — who was blanketed by Carter — for a turning fallaway from the left sideline.

But it didn't go, prompting some to wonder what if.

"I was wide open," Jazz point guard Deron Williams said. "But the ball was already gone by the time I got up to the top."