Paul Millsap could see only turnovers and a loss.
The 20 points, strong shooting, 14 rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots were a distant memory as he sat in the Utah Jazz locker room at Salt Lake Community College Monday night following a 75-71 loss to the San Antonio Spurs on the third night of Rocky Mountain Revue play.
"We lost the game. That kind of killed all the stats," said the Jazz's second-year player who made such a big impression in his rookie season with a team that won two playoff series.
"It's good to have stats like that. It's good to win, too, so once we win games and I have stats like that, I'll look back and say I done a good job. But you know I turned the ball over six times, and that was a big key to our loss.
"Without the turnovers, it would have been a perfect night with a 'W.'"
Utah's 23 turnovers to just 11 for the Spurs, who got their first win of the Revue and left the Jazz 1-2.
It was one of just a few statistical categories San Antonio won, besides the final score.
Utah beat them on points in the paint 42-16, second-chance points 21-8, fast-break points 14-6, rebounds 44-22, assists 10-9, shooting percentage 41-37.
But the turnovers led to 25 Spurs points, and Millsap had two in the final two minutes.
The first of those came with him having just tied the game at 66 with a runner in the lane and the Jazz having a chance to take the lead when, near the top of the key, a San Antonian slapped the ball out of Millsap's hands, and the Spurs got a basket from Pooh Jeter (16 points), who scored again on the Spurs' next possession for a three-point lead.
A Morris Almond pass to Millsap got away out of bounds, and the Spurs pulled ahead by five.
When the ball was slapped from Millsap's grasp, his hand was whacked and bothered him the rest of the game. "It's real sore right now, got a little swelling in it," he said in the locker room. "I'm going to ice it. There's no excuses. You turn the ball over, you just turn it over. That's what loses games.
"I've got to try to make plays without turning the ball over. Once I do that, my goal will be accomplished for being here at the Revue. I've still got a lot to work on."
Teammate Kyrylo Fesenko, the 20-year-old 7-foot-1 Ukrainian whom the Jazz had Philadelphia draft for them in the second round June 28, had his best game so far and was instrumental in bringing the Jazz back from nine points down when he re-entered the game with about a minute left in the third quarter.
Like Millsap, he couldn't be happy. "When my team win, that's all," he said.
After picking up three quick fouls to open the fourth period, Fesenko rushed in from one corner with the ball for a lay-in plus free throw, was fouled and made one free throw.
What he did next was impressive, zooming in to get the rebound of his missed free throw and dunking the ball emphatically. He finished with a block and nine points — he'd scored zero and four points in the first two games despite some eye-opening play — and he was credited with two rebounds but thought he had more.
"It was just dunk. It was nice jump, that's all. Nothing special," Fesenko said of the play that sparked the Jazz.
"Players create opportunity for me to shot, and when they trust me to shot, I have to make them," he added. "The team is comfortable with me, and I like that," but he added that for the rest of the week, "I think we have to win all the games."
The Jazz again played without guard Ronnie Brewer, out with a sore hamstring and ankle sprain.
Game results
76ers 88, Bulls 77
Philadelphia's Louis Williams, the No. 2 scorer in last summer's Revue with a 22-point average, had that at halftime Monday and finished with 31. For Chicago, Thomas Gardner had 18 points and five rebounds.
Hawks 83, Mavericks 77
Acie Law IV, Atlanta's No. 11 draft pick from Texas A&M, scored 11 points in the second quarter and finished with 24, including 12-for-13 at the free-throw line. Second-year man Shelden Williams added 20 points and nine rebounds.
E-mail: lham@desnews.com