At the end, Deron Williams wiped his brow and stared at the floor, studying the seams in the boards on the court under his Nikes, as though to be looking for a way to slip through them and escape into a small, safe space somewhere. Anywhere where the losing wouldn't jump him and smother him and punish him.

There was no such space after the reeling Jazz, losers of five straight games, ran headlong into the San Antonio Spurs, make it six, on the second night of a back-to-back set with the Lakers. Everyone already knows how the first night went.

The follow-up was far less brutal — the Jazz never trailed by 38 points this time — but the crushing outcome — a 112-105 loss to the best team in the NBA at EnergySolutions Arena in a game they might have won, had a similar effect on them.

Mercy isn't the name of the NBA schedule-makers.

But it wasn't their fault that the Jazz, in this awful stretch, had already lost to the Wiz, the Nets and the Sixers. That's self-condemnation and -flagellation administered out all plain and clear.

Jerry Sloan wanted to make that even clearer afterward.

So the Jazz tried to bump themselves out of their skid on Wednesday night, in front of national television cameras and a crowd of Utah fans still trying to figure out what in tarnation had gone wrong with a team that, less than two weeks ago, was 27-13 and if not cruising, at least not losing.

Nothing seemed wrong with the Jazz in this game — until they failed to take advantage at the end of a contest a lot of people thought they couldn't win, not the way they had been playing of late.

Turns out, they could have and didn't.

Here's the highlight: The Jazz rediscovered themselves on this night.

Deron Williams led the way, scoring 39 points on 16-for-24 shooting in a valiant effort. After trailing by 19 points in the third quarter, the Jazz did something they hadn't done in recent memory: They fought back, outscoring the Spurs by 12 points in the final 14 minutes.

Still, they lost, and it was painful for them, and for most of the fans on hand. But the Jazz, who suffered through rough stretches, didn't lack energy, effort, or execution. They shot nearly 55 percent against the Spurs' 51 percent.

The Jazz hung in early, trailing by only four at the end of the first quarter and by nine at the half. In the third, they slipped into flop-and-drop mode, and then, at last ... they became themselves.

The crowd, knowing what was at stake here, the self-esteem of an entire team, attempted to lift the Jazz on every trip. Give them a T, and give the Jazz a T, for trying.

Ultimately, though, the Jazz couldn't get enough defensive stops. When they edged closer, the Spurs pulled back out.

The Jazz cut the lead to four with two minutes to play but couldn't finish. But at least they showed up.

One thing stood out in the Jazz's postgame locker room: A close loss hurts as much as a lopsided one.

"All we can do is keep playing," said C.J. Miles, who finished with 13 points. "Keep playing hard. That's the hardest we've played in a while."

Still, Sloan wanted no talk of moral victory.

"Basketball should be played like that all the time," he said. "Sooner or later, you're going to get tired of getting beat."

Sloan used to talk about a recurring, haunting thought that, at some former place and time, plagued him — a fear that he and his team would play on and on but never win another game.

This may be as close as he'll come to actually living and realizing that nightmare. A soft upcoming schedule may ease that concern.

The Jazz just could not conjure enough energy, or effort, or efficiency — especially on defense — to beat the Spurs. But, as Sloan said, "At least our guys played a lot harder than they had been."

It will get better for the Jazz. It has to.

The losers showed signs of life Wednesday night. They are too good to be this bad, if that's any consolation.

GORDON MONSON hosts "The Gordon Monson Show" weekdays from 2-6 p.m. on 1280 The Zone. He can be reached at gmonson@sltrib.com.