Utah Jazz: Team out-of-tune in loss to Hornets

From the sound of it, they couldn't do anything right.

It may not have been quite that terrible for the Jazz in a 91-87 loss to New Orleans on Monday night at sold-out EnergySolutions Arena, one in which ex-Jazz guard Devin Brown scored a career-high 30 points to help the 16-16 Hornets break a six game in-Utah losing streak.

But it sure seemed like it to some on an 18-16 Jazz club that's lost three straight and five of its last seven.

"We're not playing well together, as a team," said point guard Deron Williams, who sprained and bruised his right wrist in a hard fourth-quarter fall to the floor. "We don't have that same continuity, that same consistency, that we've had in the past. It just seems like we're not together right now.

"We're not taking the right shots. We're passing when we're not supposed to, not passing when we're supposed to," Williams added after a 17-point, 11-dish double-double that included his 3,000 career assist. "So, it's been frustrating."

How much so?

"The frustration level, I don't think you can really even gauge where it is right now. It's as high as it can be," swingman C.J. Miles said.

"We're confident in what we do," added Miles, who scored all eight of Utah's points — including two 3-pointers — in the final two minutes. "I think it's more the frustration that makes it hard to get any confidence. It's frustrating that some of the things we do well, we're not doing so well right now."

Utah's energy level — decidedly lacking in a 10-point loss to Denver on Saturday night — was higher.

But from dribbling too much at times to not making good cuts to the basket and failing to finish as well, not to mention an inability to withstand the Hornets' defensive pressure, Jazz coach Jerry Sloan wasn't particularly thrilled with what he saw.

Especially not after New Orleans used an 11-0 run shortly after halftime to take the third quarter 25-11 — only a buzzer-beating bank by Williams saved Utah from an eight-point period — and head into the fourth up seven at 69-62.

"They came with lot more ammunition in the second half than we had to stand up to them," Sloan said.

The Jazz did have the game tied at 79 with less than four-minutes to go.