Utah Jazz: Injuries, road woes, weak 'D' were costly for the Jazz

Their victory count was 48, six fewer than a season earlier.

Their 82-game regular season came crashing down with losses in seven or their last nine outings, resulting in a No. 8 seed for the postseason and a near insta-death match with the NBA Western Conference's top-seeded Los Angeles Lakers.

Their number of playoff series won dipped as well, from two two years ago to one last year and now to none.

"We kind of regressed the last couple years," point guard Deron Williams said the day after the Jazz's postseason ended with a 4-1, best-of-seven series loss to the Lakers last Monday night.

"You know, we went to the Western Conference finals (in 2007), then the second round, now first round and didn't really put up much of a fight," he added. "So, we've kind of taken a few steps backward — which is not good."

What was up for the Jazz in 2008-09 was the number of man-games lost because of injury — to 148, a whopping 106 more than in '07-08.

And that, without argument, had plenty to do with the slip. But there's much, much more to it.

Just what, though, is tough to finger — and subject to great debate.

Lack of toughness? Insufficient work ethic? Poor chemistry?

You make the call.

"The bottom line was we had high expectations for this team. I know I did," veteran forward Matt Harpring said. "I thought we were a championship-caliber team, and I think we underachieved.

"We were so up and down all year, and it was a frustrating year," Harpring added. "I think we were a better team than what we showed toward the end of the year, and that makes it frustrating. Where it unraveled, I don't know."

Let's explore ...

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Many have hunches.

Some center them around the makeup of a team deemed too soft, and lacking the chief characteristic that's come to define most Jerry Sloan-coached Jazz clubs.

Sloan, after the Jazz's Game 1 playoff loss, called for more "nastiness."

He caught some flak for the tough-to-define phrase, but anyone who's watched Utah play over the years knows just what he meant.

"We used to have it," Williams said. "I think we've gotten away from it."

Especially on a certain, and much-discussed-throughout-the-season, end of the floor.

"For whatever reason — I think injuries had something to do with it, but — we never got to the point I thought we should be as far as defense is concerned," Sloan said.