Utah Jazz Notes

Some thoughts on the Jazz's fourth-quarter meltdown against Houston, which outscored Utah 33-16 over the final 10:20 of its victory Monday night at EnergySolutions Arena:

The first number that leaps off the box score: Carlos Boozer went 1-for-6 from the field, meaning he is 4-for-20 in the Jazz's two losses this season.

I don't know if Boozer and his teammates can make this rocky marriage work for another season or not, but I know when Boozer takes fewer shots than Ronnie Brewer (nine) and nearly as many as Wesley Mathews (five), the Jazz aren't going to win many games.

Certainly Boozer must be more efficient. But he also has to get the ball in scoring position and then do something productive with it.  If he can't or won't, the Jazz have no inside presence, even against a team like the Rockets, who because of Yao Ming's season-ending injury play four forwards and a point guard most of the time.

Andrei Kirilenko, you say?

While Boozer had one of the worst double-doubles in franchise history in the opening loss at Denver -- 12 points and 11 rebounds on 3-for-14 shooting -- Kirilenko's numbers against Houston are similarly decent.

He finished with 18 points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots.

But ...

In the fourth quarter, when the Rockets bumped their lead from 87-80 to 102-86, Kirilenko squeezed off four shots -- all from at least 18 feet, none of them wide-open and  one from the three-point line. (Kirilenko made 27 percent of his three-pointers last season).

Kirilenko made one fourth-quarter jumper against the Rockets but then missed missed three in a row.

Remember, Boozer took six shots in over 31 minutes. Kirilenko took four from the perimeter during a 15-4 run by the Rockets.

The next time coach Jerry Sloan warns everyone about looking at a box score and deciding who played well strictly because of the numbers they produce, this kind of performance is exactly what he's discussing.

--Steve Luhm