PORTLAND, Ore. — The Jazz have played either up or down to the level of their opponent most of the season, and Wednesday night was no exception.
This time, it was down — and Utah went down because of it, falling 94-89 at the Rose Garden to Northwest Division cellar-dweller Portland.
The 48-26 Jazz, who as a result failed to gain any ground on Houston in their battle for homecourt advantage in a probable 4-5 seed first-round playoff series between the teams, indeed may have been guilty of taking the now 30-44 Trail Blazers a bit too lightly.
"I'd be sad to have to say that, but with 18 turnovers and 23 points (yielded because of those miscues) it looked like we were playing the ballgame with gloves on at times: the way we handled the basketball, the way it went through our hands, the way we turned it over," coach Jerry Sloan said after his club — playing its third outing in a string of four straight on the road — lost for the seventh time in its last eight games away from home.
"It doesn't make any difference where you are — you can't afford to have turnovers in the ballgame like we did," added Sloan, whose Jazz are 22-12 this season against teams .500 or better and 25-15 against opponents under .500. "You just give the other team too many opportunities."
Chiefly taking advantage for Portland was Blazers Rookie of the Year candidate Brandon Roy, who finished with a game-high and career-high 29 points — 25 in the second half — and made 7-of-8 shots from the free-throw line in the final one minute and three seconds.
"He just took the game over," Sloan said.
"He's a wonderful player. He's a guy that's got the ability to be able to get to the free-throw line, and that's what he was able to do. Regardless of what happens, he was able to get on top," the Jazz coach added. "(If) we tried to give help, he'd split guys and break guys down when we jumped out there."
The Jazz, meanwhile, were busy self-destructing down the stretch against a Portland team playing without injured season scoring- and rebounding-leader Zach Randolph.
"We didn't make the plays we needed to make the win," said power forward Carlos Boozer, who had a 21-point, 21-rebound double-double and made two free throws that tied the game at 87 with 1:10 to go.
The Jazz actually were up 45-43 going into second half behind 12 rebounds from Boozer and 11 points from point guard Deron Williams, but Roy used a 13-point third quarter to send Portland — which snapped a four-game losing streak — into the fourth up 70-60.
His two freebies with 1:03 remaining put the Blazers ahead for good at 89-87, and two more with 29.5 seconds left padded Portland's advantage.
In between those two trips to the line for Roy, Jazz shooting guard Gordan Giricek — 5-of-7 from the field to that point — air-balled a 3-point attempt. And on Utah's first possession in the final 30 seconds, the ball was lost as Williams drove the lane on a pick-and-roll play and tried dishing a short pass back to Boozer.
"I think he (Williams) went a little bit (too quick) on it," Sloan said of the bobble from Williams to Boozer, who was tagged with committing a team-worst eight turnovers, "and the other one we just missed the shot.
"I mean, he (Giricek) had made some shots out there. I didn't have any problem with (him shooting)," added Sloan, whose Jazz visit Sacramento on Friday night. "But we didn't even hit iron on that one. You would think we would be a little bit closer. But that pretty well sums everything up, the way we played."
E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com