Jerry Sloan tried to keep his team's epic fourth-quarter meltdown Monday in perspective.

For one thing, he wouldn't have used the word "epic" to describe the now 1-2 Jazz's fourth-quarter meltdown.

"I'm concerned about any loss that we have, but the season's far from over," he said after Monday night's 113-96 loss to visiting Houston, knowing 79 games remain on the schedule. "It all depends on what we do between now and the next game we play and that's tomorrow."

Tomorrow is now today — and the clearly struggling Jazz play Dallas at 6:30 p.m. at American Airlines Center.

"One thing about this business," Sloan added, "you don't have all day to feel sorry for yourself."

Sloan added that he hopes his team will "learn something from it" — with the it being the shellacking given to them by the unheralded Rockets, who were without Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady but managed to befuddle the Jazz on both ends of the court anyway.

The game was tied at 80 when things really fell apart, and fast. Deron Williams was called for an offensive foul against Carl Landry after making a bucket and thinking he was headed to the free-throw line for a three-point play. While the Jazz boiled over, the Rockets turned up the heat. Rookie Chase Budinger hit a mid-range jumper and a 3-pointer and then Kyle Lowry hit a 17-footer.

Before Utah knew what hit it, Houston led 87-80 in just over a minute. The Rockets' surged to an 18-point lead by the five-minute mark and fans stormed out of the arena in droves. It wasn't just a silent protest. Jazz fans also booed their team.

Defense was what stuck in Sloan's craw the most about his team's performance. Houston shot 50 percent from the field, hit 10 of 19 mostly open 3-pointers and had 11 more assists than the Jazz, which usually dominates that stat line. Simply put, Sloan was disgusted by the lack of help defense.

"We couldn't keep them in front of us. What, am I supposed to go guard them? Hell no, I couldn't guard them and neither did we," Sloan grumbled. "When they drove by us, they'd find somebody open and make a pass for an easy shot."

On the other hand, Sloan had high praise for the team coached by his longtime buddy, Rick Adelman. Eight different Rockets, none named McGrady or Ming, scored in double digits.

"That's basketball at its best and they showed us what it's like," Sloan said.

The Hall of Fame coach says players need to have their "mind right" to guard. Utah also needed to be more physical, which obviously didn't happen because the Rockets out-rebounded the Jazz 46-38.

"They put their bodies on us. They went after the ball on the boards. We played with a distance between us most of the time," Sloan said.

And the coach's postgame rant continued ...

"If you're looking at a guy's rear end all night, how can you say that's good defense?" Sloan asked. "And that's what we looked at as the guys drove. We got a good look at their rear end and that's not very good. That doesn't give you much of a chance to stop them."

e-mail: jody@desnews.com