SEATTLE -- They sauntered through the first two games, winning like it was nobody's business but their own. The way they see it, this series should have been done by now.
No second game in Seattle. No more Gary Payton. No need to do anything but prep for Round 2 of the NBA playoffs.But the Jazz blew it last time out, and they know it.
"We tried to deliver the knockout blow," center Olden Polynice said, "and it backfired -- big-time."
The Jazz got beat on the boards, beat to the ball and beat to a proverbial pulp. Which is why, when they are asked about that 89-78 loss in Seattle on Saturday, they get . . . downright aggressive.
"That's over with," guard John Stockton snapped.
Funny, aggressiveness is the one thing the Jazz lacked in Game 3 -- which is why they must play Game 4 against the Sonics tonight. It is also the one thing Utah must get back if it wants to avoid going to a decisive Game 5 on Friday in this best-of-five, opening-round Western Conference series, which is one thing they most certainly do not want to do.
"I hate deciding games," Jazz forward Karl Malone said.
"You don't want to take it to a Game 5," Polynice added, "because anything can happen."
The Jazz found that out the hard way Saturday, when they fell to Seattle in large part because they went soft.
Another big reason is that the Sonics went large themselves, going for several key stretches with a lineup in which point guard Payton was joined by Horace Grant, Vin Baker, Ruben Patterson and Rashard Lewis -- all four of whom stand either 6-foot-10 or 6-11.
Whether they want to admit it or not, which they essentially do not, that created all sorts of matchup problems for the Jazz -- and contributed in large part to the fact that the Sonics were able to pull down 14 offensive boards, including five from Baker, en route to outrebounding Utah 46-38.
"That helped us get some second shots," Seattle coach Paul Westphal said.
Size issues aside, the Sonics had one up on the Jazz simply because they seemed to want it more.
"They got some boards on us, but I don't know if it was because of their height," Jazz guard Jeff Hornacek said. "We just didn't box out a few times,
and we kind of went into that lull like we always do."
It happened all too often under Seattle's basket, and when the ball was loose on the floor as well.
"They went after the basketball," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said.
"You know, there's a lot of drills and stuff you can do," Sloan added. "You can do drills every day and not improve. I've seen guys not improve a lick. I've seen guys in college -- they never got any more rebounds (whether they're) working hard every day or not working hard for two weeks.
"It's what you have up here," he said, pointing to his head, "and being able to say to yourself, 'I'm going to go get the ball. The ball has my name written on it. It belongs to me. It doesn't belong to anybody else.' You've got to have that attitude in order to rebound."
The Jazz did not have that attitude Saturday.
Malone pulled down six rebounds, his fewest of the series. Polynice had just three, which is 2 1/2 under his regular-season average, plus a trio of turnovers. Backup center Greg Ostertag and reserve front-liner Armen Gilliam also had six boards apiece, which even when put together is just not enough.
"If you say, 'Well, (the ball) has someone else's name -- you can have it,' that's the approach that's gonna get you beat," Sloan said. "It's like loose balls: I've always said, 'If you can see and imagine hard enough -- when you look at that basketball, if you can see how your name is spelled on there, then you'll go get it when it's on the floor; if you can't imagine your name on a ball, then you're probably not going to get it. You'll let somebody else have it.'
"It's the same thing: We let them have loose balls, and it's very obvious to me. I think you put those two things (rebounding and going after loose balls) together and say, 'We didn't want it.' "
The Jazz's desire and aggressiveness apparently took a day off.
"You can say to yourself, 'Am I burning inside to play?' " Sloan said. "You could talk that . . . 'Yeah, I really want to play.' But when you go out on the floor and it doesn't show, who are you trying to fool?"
If it was Sloan, the Jazz failed miserably.
"Their team was together," he said. "Our team was pretty much in shambles as far as trying to play to win."
You can reach Tim Buckley by e-mail at tbuckley@desnews.com