This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Through the turnovers, the missed shots and the missed defensive assignments, one can reasonably narrow a 103-94 loss to the Orlando Magic down to the third quarter for the Utah Jazz.

Vivint Smart Home Arena exploded on Thursday night when Utah point guard Raul Neto hit a 3-pointer, got fouled and knocked down a free throw to complete a four-point play. The Jazz had a 65-58 lead, and a few defensive stops could've put the Magic in trouble.

Utah got four stops in a row. But the Jazz could never score. What's worse, they turned the ball over on three of those possessions, the last one culminating in Orlando forward Tobias Harris intercepting a pass, dribbling the length of the floor and dunking to get his team back into the game.

"They bumped up the lead, but we didn't let them run away from us," Magic head coach Scott Skiles said. "Those were some of the plays we made during that stretch and they were important to us. I know we were good the last six or seven minutes of the game, but to keep it close when we didn't have our best stuff enabled us to make those plays at the end."

Orlando — in winning its fifth consecutive game — certainly had some help from the Jazz. To put it kindly, Utah played loose with the basketball in that second half.

The Jazz finished with 19 turnovers, 10 of them after halftime. When Utah was attempting to rally, it allowed a pair of easy 3-point looks to Andrew Nicholson and another to Evan Fournier, nine points that the Jazz could never overcome.

In the postgame news conference, Utah coach Quin Snyder acknowledged his team wasn't always engaged defensively, which hurt the Jazz. And Utah surrendered 44 points in the paint, a glaring sign that playing without Rudy Gobert is going to take some getting used to.

"It was frustrating," Jazz power forward Derrick Favors said. "We could've played better tonight on both ends of the floor. We have to be better at taking care of the ball and we have to be better defensively."

Favors shot the ball seven times in his first game this season at the center position, scoring 12 points and grabbing 10 rebounds, but not having his usual impact as the Jazz struggled to get the ball inside to him.

Utah was also hurt by Rodney Hood, who went 1 for 8 from the field for three points in 24 minutes.

"I thought it was the second half in general," Jazz forward Gordon Hayward said. "Too many turnovers, especially there in the third. They knocked down some big shots, some threes. It unraveled quickly for us. I think it was just one of those games."

tjones@sltrib.com twitter: @tjonessltrib —

Storylines

R The Jazz are outscored in the third quarter, despite scoring eight of the first 12 points in the period.

• Utah turns the ball over 19 times and is outscored 44-22 in the paint.

• The Jazz lose the fourth quarter 26-16, as the game is broken open by Andrew Nicholson's two 3-pointers.