Utah Jazz muster lackluster effort in 'Nawlins'

NEW ORLEANS — The Utah Jazz did it again.

Win?

Ha. Good one.

Play inconsistently, lose focus, fall apart on the road, show a lack of effort and make fans scream at TVs and computers while losing to a vastly inferior and undermanned team?

Yep. That's it.

"It just feels like a dream," Jazz center Al Jefferson said. "I wish I could wake up."

Unfortunately, Utah players and coaches can't pinch themselves out of this nightmare.

A night after looking like a sure-bet playoff team in a 10-point win at Memphis, the Jazz looked as awkward and out of sorts as a couple of wholesome missionaries on Bourbon Street.

And, yes, they did that against a four-win team.

Scratch that. The New Orleans Hornets improved to a lofty 5-23 with this unlikely 86-80 win over a terrific-one-night-terrible-the-next Jazz squad.

Embarrassing. Surprised. Disappointing.

Beyond disappointing. Flat. No excuse.

Lack of concentration. Wheels fell off. Heads weren't into it.

By the way, these weren't a sports writer's words to describe getting stung by a Hornets team that had lost 23 of 25 coming into Monday's game.

These descriptions of this devastating and demoralizing defeat came from the Jazz, who blew an opportunity to build on momentum gained (or apparently not) from Sunday's nice win over the Grizzlies.

"We should be ashamed of ourselves, I know that," Jefferson said. "We just didn't play like we wanted tonight. There's no way in the world we should've lost to that team. But we did."

The Jazz weren't playing incredibly well, but they did take an early eight-point lead and looked well on their way to cruising into Oklahoma City with wins in their first two road games in this back-to-back-to-back set.

After all, NBA-owned New Orleans had dropped eight straight.

Plus, because of injuries, the post-Chris-Paul-era Hornets were without key players like Eric Gordon, Emeka Okafor, Carl Landry and Jarrett Jack.

Sound familiar?

And, no, they didn't have someone named Jeremy Lin hiding on the bench.