By Martin Renzhofer

| The Salt Lake Tribune

Next time, maybe the Washington Wizards will listen to their coach.

Randy Wittman warned them about Utah Jazz big man Al Jefferson. Wittman, who took over for Flip Saunders, didn’t see the lack of defensive effort coming, either.

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At a glance

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Wizards defense

» The 38 points in the third quarter by Utah ties for the most points allowed by Washington.

» Washington is now 3-16 when allowing an opponent to score 100 points or more.

» JaVale McGee, second in the NBA with 2.7 blocks, had three Friday.

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Jefferson went off for 26 points in the first half and finished with 34. Meanwhile, the Jazz reached the century mark for points after three quarters in what turned out to be a 114-100 laugher for Utah.

The score didn’t reflect the true nature of Friday’s game in EnergySolutions Arena. The Jazz built a 28-point lead midway through the third period.

"This is still a very physical team as all [Jazz coach Ty Corbin’s] teams are now," Wittman said. "When Jerry [Sloan] was here, they were always physical. We just weren’t ready for that, whatever the reason."

Washington, in the midst of its road swing to the West, had won two of three coming in. The Wizards (7-24), especially in the first half, looked uninterested in playing any kind of defense.

Utah (15-14) scored 70 points in the paint and shot a collective 53 percent for the game.

"They came out and got everything they wanted," said Wizards guard John Wall, who finished with 24 points and five assists. "We weren’t getting back, taking tough shots and not playing any defense. To give up 100 points in three quarters is unnecessary."

As for Jefferson, Wittman had coached him for a year when both were at Minnesota. He knew the Jazz post’s strengths and weaknesses.

"I tried to tell JaVale [McGee] and these guys, ‘You’ve got to fight,’ " Wittman said. "[Jefferson] was catching the ball so deep we couldn’t double him if we wanted to.

"When a guy gets going, step up to the plate and get a little pissed off about what’s going on and fight the guy."

On Friday, Washington was more content to watch.

martyr@sltrib.com

Twitter: @tribmarty