Utah Jazz: A Thunder-ous thud

They could have been in Oklahoma City, not Salt Lake, for all it seemed like they cared about defending their homecourt.

Watching over the basketball was troubling, too.

Combine the two blockades, and it's little wonder the Jazz fell 104-94 to the Thunder on Tuesday night at not-nearly-sold-out EnergySolutions Arena — ending their modest three-game win streak.

"We turned the ball over 24 times," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan, "in a very important game, one of the biggest games we play all year long, against a team in your division, in your building.

"With that many turnovers," he added, "it's pretty hard to come away with a win."

Sixteen of the Jazz's miscues came during a second half in which they were up by one early and trailed by as many as 19 with just more than seven minutes to go — only to see a late-game rally bid by Utah fall short.

A season-worst seven turnovers were committed by point guard Deron Williams, who bemoaned the 7-7 Jazz having lost three of their seven games so far at EnergySolutions.

Moreover, the defeat ended Utah's four-game home win streak over a now 8-7 Thunder team that got a game-high 28 points from Kevin Durant.

"We're not really used to losing like this — especially in games we know we should win," forward Paul Millsap said.

"We just (have) to do a better job," Williams added, "of protecting the homecourt. ... A couple years ago, we lost three (actually four) games all season (at home). ... It is a little disheartening — but there's a lot of basketball left to play."

Sloan, however, might cringe if the Jazz continue to play like they did in Tuesday's second outing of a six-game homestand.

"We just started taking shots and got into casual mode," he said, "and I thought (the Thunder) did a terrific job defensively.

"That's where you come together as a team if you're gonna have a chance to do anything in this business. You can't be all just about trying to score points."

The Jazz did get 26 with 11-for-15 field shooting from forward Carlos Boozer, but Sloan was miffed by the defensive effort of his bigs.

"It's hard to cover anybody if you're afraid of getting hit," he said.

"You've got to get up and take some punishment to be able to guard those guys, because they're gonna run you off screens."

Williams, meanwhile, was smothered when the Thunder switched 6-foot-7 shooting guard/defensive specialist Thabo Sefolosha onto him.

"He got up and played Deron," Sloan said.

"He didn't back away from him. You know, we didn't get up and play them like they played us."