Utah Jazz: Stumble in fourth quarter, fall to Rockets

It's a good thing the Utah Jazz don't base attendance figures by who's left at the end of games.

Heck, on Monday night, it was a good thing they didn't do a head count with four minutes remaining.

About that time — at the tail end of a major meltdown by the home team — thousands of spectators decided they'd seen enough and began flooding the EnergySolutions Arena exits.

They missed a couple of meaningless late dunks by Jazz players. But the frustrated fleeing flock obviously didn't mind missing what the scoreboard displayed at the final buzzer — a shocking score in visiting Houston's favor of 113-96.

"I don't blame them," Jazz shooting guard Ronnie Brewer said. "We didn't play well at all. We didn't put forth the effort. If I was a fan, I would've left early, too."

Disgruntled fans didn't just head out before the final buzzer of a game that turned ugly for Utah early in the fourth quarter when the no-name Rockets turned a tied contest into a blowout.

Jazz fans also loudly booed their team, which got outhustled, outplayed and outscored by 17 points in the final 10-plus minutes.

The resounding chorus of Bronx cheers rang in Utah players' ears.

"Anytime in the third game of the season you're getting booed in your home arena," said Deron Williams, "you're not going to feel good."

Fact of the matter is, Jazz players weren't exactly thrilled with their own play, either.

Especially disconcerting for Utah is how the struggling and inconsistent 1-2 squad is looking a whole lot like the team that ended last year with a thud. Not to bring back bad memories, but the Jazz lost seven of their final nine regular-season games and got shellacked by the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round of the playoffs.

"It's like we picked up right where we left off. We haven't played a good game of basketball yet," Williams said. "It doesn't look too good right now from the inside. I'm sure it doesn't look good from the outside."

Tell the fans about it.

"We owe it to them and our families and ourselves and our coaching staff to play hard, night in, night out, 48 minutes. I think at times we didn't do that," Brewer added. "We didn't execute on defense. We didn't execute on offense. It didn't shock me when people were leaving."

The Rockets seemed to thrive off of the atmosphere. Houston had eight different players score in double figures, led by super-quick point guard Aaron Brooks' 19 and a 17-point effort from rookie Chase Budinger. The Rockets outrebounded the Jazz (46-38), had way more assists (29-18) committed five fewer turnovers (19-14).

Utah was also outscored 34-20 in the decisive fourth quarter and by 20 points in the second half against the smaller, quicker, scrappier Rockets.