Utah Jazz: Aching Jazz suffer pain of loss to the Rockets

Jazz-Rockets boxscore

SALT LAKE CITY — It won't show up on the Utah Jazz's official — and very full — injury report.

But there was no doubt that the Jazz's broken hearts ached more Wednesday night than all of the sore and injured body parts — Deron Williams' wrist, Andrei Kirilenko's ankle and Mehmet Okur's back — that forced them to play shorthanded Wednesday night.

Their 97-96 defeat to the Houston Rockets stung more than any setback the Jazz have suffered this season.

The dejection was thick in the locker room moments after C.J. Miles' last-second would-be winner bounced off the rim, handing Utah its eighth loss in 10 games.

"It's definitely tough on your home floor," Miles said in an unusually somber postgame atmosphere.

"This," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan admitted, "was a tough loss."

The Rockets' crafty scorer, Kevin Martin, made the heart-piercing play of the game. There were 6.9 seconds remaining when he lost his defender, Raja Bell, on an excellently executed curl, then momentarily lost the ball before collecting himself and sinking an inside bucket that tied the game.

Jazz center Al Jefferson was called for a foul on Martin's clutch move, and the Houston guard, who had a game-high 22 points, sank the go-ahead free throw for the winning margin.

"A loss is always hard to deal with," Jefferson said. "But this for me hurt the most."

While the Jazz fell to 29-21, they lost for the first time this season in a game decided by less than three points (in four tries).

Utah also dropped to 2-2 in the past four games played without its injured All-Star and leader, Williams.

What really caused them some heart distress was how hard they'd played — including gutsy games by some non-spotlight guys.

Jefferson and Paul Millsap each scored 20 points and hauled in double-digit rebounds to lead the Jazz, and Miles finished with 18 points.

But the loss spoiled the especially inspiring efforts by fill-in starters Earl Watson and Gordon Hayward, along with backup Jeremy Evans.

Watson, in his fourth straight start in Williams' point guard position, finished with a near-triple-double of 11 points, nine rebounds and eight assists.