Jazz coach Jerry Sloan suggested he'd never seen a team play defense as incomprehensibly as the Jazz did in the third quarter -- at least when it came to pick-and-roll coverage -- while Williams questioned the team's toughness.

"The bottom line is we've got to stop being so soft as a team," said Williams, who tried to shoulder the load only to score a season-high 35 points on a night the Jazz trailed from start to finish.

"We come out soft, teams push us around, we don't push back, we don't fight back, we just lay down like this. That's twice in a row against division rivals that we've just laid down and let them walk all over us."

As the Jazz dropped to 1-11 in the second game of back-to-back sets, Williams said they had to "decide that we've got to show up every night, can't take nights off," though he stressed he wasn't calling out anybody individually.

The Jazz gave up 33 points in the first quarter, 38 in the third and 32 in the fourth. Every Portland player in uniform scored, including 12th man Shavlik Randolph, who beat his former Philadelphia teammate Kyle Korver for a reverse layup in the final minute.

Brandon Roy celebrated his second All-Star selection by leading Portland with 30 points. Nicolas Batum hit four three-pointers in scoring 16 points and Joel Przybilla totaled 14 points and 17 rebounds with Greg Oden playing only 11 minutes due to foul trouble.

Sloan said he was dumbfounded watching as the Jazz blew five straight pick-and-roll coverages in the third quarter. "I don't think I've ever had that happen as long as I've been in coaching," Sloan said.

The Jazz (26-22) still have nine sets of back-to-backs left to play this season, including Thursday and Friday at home against Dallas and at Sacramento. After Saturday's loss, they are giving up 106 points on average in the second game of those sets.

In addition, the Jazz now are 8-16 on the road, where they have dropped nine of their last 10 games. Asked if the Jazz needed to change their routine for back-to-backs, Williams was blunt: "We already don't have enough energy. Why shoot around?"

Whatever hope the Jazz had of winning the Northwest Division might as well have vanished, trailing Denver by 5? games and Portland by 4. As for making the playoffs, the Jazz lost the chance to gain ground on Phoenix, which fell at home to Chicago.

The Jazz set an awful tone, committing turnovers on their first three possessions, and fell behind by 10 in the first quarter. But Williams kept them afloat, scoring 14 of the Jazz's 21 points in the second quarter, as they headed into halftime trailing 52-47.

"It took me a while to get my energy," Williams said. "I didn't have anything in my stomach. I had to come out in that first quarter because I thought I was going to pass out."

Not even three minutes into the second half, the Blazers were back in control by 11. They poured it on as Sergio Rodriguez tossed a no-look pass over his shoulder to Przybilla for a dunk and Batum buried another three-pointer.

LaMarcus Aldridge spun past Paul Millsap and scored as part of a three-point play, sending Millsap to the bench with his fourth personal. Mehmet Okur traveled coming out of a timeout, with Roy and Batum hitting three-pointers to make it 84-64.

All but forgotten were the good feelings from a 110-90 victory over Oklahoma City only 24 hours earlier.

rsiler@sltrib.com Trail Blazers 122, Jazz108

In short ? The Jazz trail all night against Portland in dropping to 1-11 in the second game of back-to-back sets. Inside

Fesenko getting a chance to prove his worth C13