Utah Jazz Notes

If the Jazz are considering making a move after Monday’s debacle against Houston, my advice would be sooner rather than later. They’re facing the distinct possibility of a 1-4 start, with a back-to-back game Tuesday at Dallas, followed by San Antonio at home Thursday.

Although they’ll play host to Sacramento on Saturday - - a likely victory against one of the NBA’s worst teams - - the Jazz will leave on a four-game Eastern Conference trip after that, which includes stops in Boston and Cleveland.

Put simply, it’s going to be tough sledding for the Jazz, who last started 1-4 in 2002-03. Underscoring the urgency is the fact that they have to make the most of November, especially the season-long six-game homestand at the end of the month.

The way the Jazz unraveled in the fourth quarter Monday was alarming. For a team whose core has been together as long as the Jazz’s, there was seemingly zero chemistry. Deron Williams described the Jazz’s offense as stagnant, the team as lacking energy.

That’s all reflected in the box score, where the Jazz had 18 assists as a team against 19 turnovers. In other words, the Jazz managed to assist on average of just 4.5 baskets a quarter.  The Rockets by comparison had 29 assists against 14 turnovers.

The Jazz have given up 108.3 points on average these first three games, with Carlos Boozer going 13 for 42 (31.0 percent). Jerry Sloan all but admitted after the game that Boozer’s return has been a distraction - - it’s all in Tuesday’s paper.

It’s getting harder and harder to argue that a trade wouldn’t be in the best interest of both Boozer and the Jazz, something that I’ve written in this space a multitude of times since Boozer first expressed his love for Chicago and Miami this summer.

Sloan, meanwhile, called out his team in so many ways after the game, I couldn’t even get them all in my game story.

“In our scouting report this morning, we said, ‘You don’t take these guys lightly because they’re good, they’re playing hard and they have no issues,’” Sloan said. “You see them play and watch them play, they’re having fun, and we’re struggling.

“If we don’t get a call in our direction, we feel like the world’s against us and then we make two or three more mistakes. So we’ve got to fight through that. See who we are.”

Sloan was asked to clarify his remarks about taking the Rockets lightly.

“Did you just see them run by us?” Sloan said. “How many times did they dribble past whoever theywanted to dribble past? I mean, if you aren’t going to defend, it’s pretty tough to have a chance to win.”

From the beginning, Sloan said, the Jazz cared only about stopping their own man, rather than helping out each other, on defense. “That’s not winning basketball, that’s just taking your paycheck and going home,” Sloan said.

I asked Sloan how disappointed he was that when the Rockets made their fourth-quarter push, the Jazz failed to respond.

“Well, we couldn’t keep them in front of us,” Sloan said. “I mean, what am I supposed to go guard them? Hell, no, I couldn’t guard them, and neither did we. 

“When then drove by us, they’d find somebody open and they’d make a pass for an easy shot and that’s what we had. That’s basketball at its best, and they showed us what it’s like.”

More on the defensive shortcomings: “If you’re looking at a guy’s rear end all night, how can you say that’s good defense? And that’s what we looked at as the guys drove by us - - we got a good look at their rear ends and that doesn’t give you much of a chance to stop them.”

--Ross Siler