EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J.—It started so promising.

For a quarter on Wednesday at the IZOD Center, the Nets hung with the one of the West's elite. Brook Lopez had already scored 10 points, shooting a perfect 5-of-5 while twice dishing to cutting teammates for layups. The latter, a pass to Terrence Williams as a baseline double team collapsed upon the Nets' second-year center, tied the Jazz at 24 with 1 minute, 36 seconds to go in the half.

Eduardo Najera stole a pass on the ensuing possesion, but Rafer Alston handed it back to Utah's Paul Millsap. Courtney Lee recovered to block Millsap's transition layup, but Williams badly misfied on a baseline drive. The Jazz responded with a layup; the Nets followed with a 24-second violation. Finishing the quarter down 2, the deficit grew to 11 by the half and 15 by the end of the third, coinciding with the Nets' shooting percentage drop from .667 to .400. The Jazz won going away, 108-92.

"Well, with our inability to space the floor, they kind of jammed it up a little bit and forced us to take outside shots," said Nets point guard Devin Harris. "There’s not a whole lot of driving lanes. Obviously, they can double and triple-team Brook and that’s where it’s a struggle to try and get points in the paint."

Harris commended Lopez for dealing with the pressure of facing that much attention, adding that it was up to the rest of the team to find ways to keep him effective in those situations. Lopez finished the game with a team-high 23 points and 10 rebounds (5 offensive) in 38 minutes, good for his sixth straight double-double and 15th overall. The 21-year-old led the team in scoring for the 13th time in 26 games – easily most on the team.

Lopez deflected attention from his performance ("I'm not into individual stats"), instead trying to find solace in the fight showed by a fourth-quarter push that pulled the Nets within eight points six minutes from the finish. But the Jazz shot better than .500 in every quarter, capped by a .733 performance in the fourth as the Nets seemed to run out of gas after their run. After Lopez's three-point play cut it to eight, Utah hit four of its next five attempts, capping an 11-2 run with Deron Williams' dagger three and sealing the game.

"It seems we play defense in spurts," said Nets forward Trenton Hassell. "We don’t do it consistently. We got the capability and we showed we can play defense but it's just doing it with consistency and doing it over a period of time."

While Deron Williams (20 points, 14 assists) and Carlos Boozer (26 points, 10 rebounds) aggressively attacked the Nets' defense, Harris was attempting to drive on the Jazz, earning 11 free-throws. But that wasn't enough to offset yet another poor shooting Net from the Nets' point guard; he connected on only 1-of-9 field-goal attempts.

But Harris wasn't alone in aimless outside shooting – the Nets nailed only 2-of-13 three-pointers. The team seemed aware of their struggles, as no one fired more than three triples, and several players appeared more aggressive than they'd been recently, none moreso than Terrence Williams.

The rookie shot 6-of-10, only taking two jump shots and getting to the line six times, finishing with 17 points. That marked his second straight game shooting better than .500 while scoring in double-figures. He did it with a variety of dribble-drive moves, from spins to hopsteps, powering through traffic and protecting the ball like a fullback with an over/under, between-the-forearms grip.

"My whole mindset is 'Attack the rim,'" Williams said. "I only shot two jumpers today, but I had to be reminded that I have to drive. I just felt like I was in a good rhythm before the game, and during the game I just had to show the rhythm I was in. My teammates were telling me to drive and don't think about it. When I think about it, I'm easy to guard. So once I just make a quick move, it's easy to get to the basket."

NETS NOTES: Yi Jianlian spoke briefly during the half about his recovery from the upper lip laceration that delayed his return by two weeks. He's been participating lightly during practice (no contact), and expects to be back fully following this stretch of four games in five nights. His lip doesn't show much damage despite having 50 stitches removed a day ago.

"The stitches were very small," Yi said. "I don’t know (why it was so many). I was in there like an hour."

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