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Philadelphia • They will return home with nothing.

No forward movement. No progression.

And instead of strengthening their resolve and fortifying their position, the Jazz now must face a series of self-reflective questions. The deepest: Where exactly their up-and-down season is heading after they seriously struggled through an 0-4 nose dive during what many initially believed would be a highly productive East Coast road trip.

Utah dropped its fourth consecutive game Saturday night, falling to the Philadelphia 76ers 96-85 at the Wells Fargo Center.

Deron Williams's 20 points topped the Jazz (27-17), while Andre Iguodala scored a game-high 22 for Philadelphia (18-25).

"We're struggling," Utah coach Jerry Sloan said. "We'll just have to see what we're made out of and see how we fight back out of it. Or we'll look for other excuses somewhere else."

It marked the first time in nearly two years that the Jazz have lost four straight games. The last time it occurred, Brevin Knight and Jarron Collins were wearing Utah uniforms.

The flailing Jazz failed to score more than 22 points during a single quarter against the 76ers and were outscored in each period. The obvious lack of offensive firepower, intensity and cohesion continued a trend that started Monday in Washington, with a loss to the lowly Wizards.

Utah has not won a quarter since the fourth period Wednesday during a defeat to New Jersey. And while the Jazz were completely overwhelmed and blown out by 24 points Friday by an impressive Boston team, it was three weak performances against some of the NBA's poorest clubs that left Utah guard Raja Bell asserting that his team is close to temporarily flat-lining.

The Wizards, Nets and 76ers hold a combined 43-86 record. The Jazz were outplayed, outhustled and outclassed by all three.

"When things are bad, they have to hit rock bottom," Bell said. "And this seems to be one of those slumps where it's going to take us really bottoming out, and then you'll see us kind of bounce back and maybe regain some of that old form.

"It's almost like a shooting slump: When you think it's bad, it's not bad enough until that's all you can take. And hopefully tonight that was it for us, because that was pretty bad."

Sloan attempted to spark his dormant team with a lineup change, inserting rookie forward Gordon Hayward into the first unit and having veteran Andrei Kirilenko come off the bench.

The Jazz initially found a little life, avoiding another slow start and taking a 20-18 lead late in the first quarter. But Sloan said Hayward played just OK, while Williams acknowledged that the impact was minimal. And Utah was soon back to its non-winning ways, sporting a 76ers squad that Williams referred to as "a team with one of the worst records in the [Eastern Conference]" an endless series of uncontested passes and open looks.

Which left the team leader with no option but to focus on the obvious: A Utah squad that began the season wanting to do more than just make the playoffs and receive an early-round exit has temporarily lost its direction at the same time that opponents are eyeing the All-Star break and starting to clamp down.

Oklahoma City now holds a 11/2 game-lead over the Jazz in the Northwest Division, while Denver and Portland have closed within 41/2 games of first place.

Thus, Williams — like teammates C.J. Miles, Paul Millsap and Bell — was left to roll out a long list of things that are troubling the Jazz.

And when he was asked to sum up the joyless journey, he did not hold back.

"It's disappointing. Horrible," Williams said. "We just played bad as a whole, as a group. I played bad. One through 13, we didn't have a good trip. We're looking for ourselves out there and we just can't find anything."

bsmith@sltrib.comTwitter: @tribjazz —

Storylines

R In short • The Jazz fall to the Philadelphia 76ers 96-85 Saturday on the road.

Key stat • Utah hits just 25 percent (4 of 16) of its 3-point field goals.

Key moment • Leading 70-63 after three quarters, the 76ers open the fourth period with a 6-1 run.