Jazz sluggish at start, ready to brawl at end of another road loss.

By Bill Oram

| The Salt Lake Tribune

Oklahoma City • DeMarre Carroll insists the Utah Jazz are "in the hunt."

So was Bambi’s mom.

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At a glance

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Highlights

O The Jazz shoot a season-low 35 percent from the field and commit 20 turnovers.

» Three Jazz players receive technical fouls.

» Oklahoma City outscores the Jazz 21-9 in the second quarter.

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The playoffs remain within reach for a Jazz team that has done everything imaginable to keep it from being so. But no loss, not even Wednesday’s 110-87 beatdown against the defending-conference champion Thunder counts more than the others when it comes to the standings.

In regards to the suffocating weight it places on a team, well, that might be a different matter.

After watching his listless team get destroyed by Oklahoma City, coach Tyrone Corbin questioned the effort from his starters, who were outscored 59-26 by the Thunder in front of a sellout crowd at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Of his second unit, which didn’t fare much better, Corbin spat, "At least they played hard."

Four nights had passed since the Jazz were manhandled in New York, losing by 29 points to the Knicks.

"That’s very concerning, not just scoring double figures," Corbin said, "but it’s the way we played."

No Jazz starter scored in double figures as the Jazz were led in scoring by 20 points from Gordon Hayward, although most of those came after the game was well out of hand.

Locker rooms are sacred places in the NBA, a safe place for honest words and sharp evaluations. Asked what Corbin’s message was to a team that lost for the eighth time in 10 games and was blown out on the road for the second time in four days, Al Jefferson said, "I don’t think there was no message. Chewing our ass out."

Paul Millsap, who stood next to Jefferson, chimed in.

"You ask him what the message was?" Millsap said. "He said it. It was his message."

Oh, brother.

Even on a night there was not much to say, what Corbin said was pointed.

"We needed a big win," Corbin said. "I didn’t think we gave our best effort in the first half to start off."

The Jazz were outscored 21-9 in the second quarter and had their worst first half of the season, scoring just 29 points. With Kevin Durant struggling — he had just eight points at halftime — the Jazz failed to capitalize, shooting just 22.7 percent before halftime.

"We have to understand that this is an important game for us, and it should hurt us," Carroll said. "But we can’t dwell on it. We just got to come back on Saturday and pick up a win at home."

The Jazz remain half a game behind the Los Angeles Lakers for the eighth spot in the Western Conference playoff chase, thanks to a Lakers loss in Atlanta.

The Jazz have built this season, like always, on an inside-out style of play anchored by Jefferson and Millsap.

Not against the Thunder.

"They had us on the perimeter all game long," Corbin said.

At halftime, the Jazz were being outscored 18-6 in the paint.

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