"They took us out of the game, and our execution just failed," said Sloan, who was disappointed by the Jazz's 17 turnovers, their penchant for walking the ball up the floor and their general lack of defensive energy.

"It seems to be the way things are going right now," he added.

"And I expect some of that, because we have a different group of guys playing."

The one "true bright spot" for the Jazz, Sloan said, was Millsap's 44-minute effort.

"Because he went after everything and played as hard as he could play," the Jazz coach said.

"You know, when we're shorthanded, we need that. We can't just say, 'Well, we'll get 'em next game,'" he added. "This stuff rolls by you really fast, and pretty soon you wake up and say, 'Wow, we've dug a hole for ourselves and now's the time to come out of it.' Well, it usually doesn't work that way."

All of which left Sloan hoping his club can get it together before starting yet another back-to-back set Friday vs. the Raptors, followed by a visit Saturday to Phoenix.

"I just think," he said, "we have to continue to work at it, see how we come back, not have too many ice-pick wars in the locker room and out in the street, and we'll be fine."

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E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com