Suns fade down stretch

SALT LAKE CITY - The Suns had to deal with a lot Monday night. A desperate Jazz team coming off a lousy road trip, a hostile home crowd, rampant foul problems among the starters and a poor effort from much of the bench.

But when Steve Nash popped in a 9-foot floater with 8:25 to play, there were the Suns, trailing by just four points at 90-86 and in position to steal another road game if they could muster one last charge.

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From there, the Jazz raised their game to another level, while the Suns sank. Utah reeled off 13 straight points, most of them coming on fast-break opportunities off Phoenix turnovers or ill-advised shots, and rolled to a 109-97 win that reminded the Suns that they are only as good as the confidence level they show on the floor.

“I don’t think we ever had a great belief in what we were doing,” said Nash, who managed 14 points and eight assists but had to play the fourth quarter with five fouls.

“We never had the sense that we were going to get over the top. Our attitude predicated a lot of indecision.

“We didn’t do a good job of playing together. We were lethargic. That left us a step behind on defense and it didn’t do us any favors on offense.”

The Jazz also dominated the glass, an area the Suns have come to depend on, by a 47-26 margin. Boozer had 15 rebounds, including seven of Utah’s 17 offensive boards.

“Their best offense was to shoot it up and go get it,” Phoenix coach Terry Porter said.

“They got to the loose balls, they ran when they had a chance (20 fast-break points, compared to just four for the Suns). We’d make a turnover or take a quick shot and they were off to the races.

“We just had too many breakdowns. We didn’t show any poise down the stretch. We were in a hurry for some reason. The zone defense they played wasn’t anything we have seen before, but we did a poor job of attacking it.”

The Suns got 30 points and eight rebounds from Amaré Stoudemire, but Shaquille O’Neal struggled again in a back-to-back situation, missing eight of 11 shots from the floor and grabbing one rebound in 32 minutes.

 Playing without starters Deron Williams (ankle) and Mehmet Okur (personal reasons), the Jazz got 21 points each from Carlos Boozer and C.J. Miles — who was averaging 6.9 a game — to go with 58 points and 23 rebounds from a Utah bench — including Andrei Kirilenko — that proved to be the difference.

The Suns shot 57 percent in the first quarter and built a nine-point lead,but Phoenix committed a momentum-killing 14 fouls in the second quarter, three shy of a franchise record. By halftime, four of the five Phoenix starters had three fouls, and the bench didn’t offer much support.

Goran Dragic’s struggles continued, and Grant Hill was less effective off the bench behind the reinstated Matt Barnes.