Turnovers, poor shooting plague Sixers in loss to Jazz

SALT LAKE CITY - The 76ers are on another losing streak.

They owe this one to their continued case of the poor-shooting and costly turnover blues. In the end, the Utah Jazz prevailed, 88-71, on Saturday night at EnergySolutions Arena.

The Sixers (4-25) have opened the West Coast portion of their seven-game road trip with back-to-back losses to the Portland Trail Blazers and the Jazz (10-20).

Unlike Friday's 114-93 blowout by the Blazers, the Sixers still had a chance despite their shortcomings against Utah. That's because their opponent was equally bad.

But they ultimately were undone by missed shots and miscues.

"Our offense struggles," Sixers coach Brett Brown said. "Our defense keeps us hanging around. Even the 88 points [Utah scored] is bearable. . . . So we feel [we] held them to a low-enough margin to go find some wins."

The Jazz clung to a 69-66 lead with 5 minutes, 50 seconds remaining. But the Sixers missed seven consecutive shots during Utah's key 19-3 run. Tony Wroten added a late bucket to make it a 17-point game.

This was a night that Michael Carter-Williams will want to forget. Last season's rookie of the year made just 2 of 20 field-goal attempts and finished with eight points. Carter-Williams also had six turnovers to go with six assists.

"For the most part, I took pretty open shots. They just didn't fall," Carter-Williams said. "That's the way it goes. That's all I can really say."

Carter-Williams said he didn't let his poor shooting get into his head.

"No, I don't think I was thinking too much," he said. "I knew I wasn't having a great shooting night. But I didn't want to shy away from it. That's worse than doing what I did."

The Sixers shot 32.4 percent and committed 18 turnovers.

Wroten led the Sixers with 20 points off the bench. Robert Covington added 17 points.

Nerlens Noel had a scare, injuring his left ankle in the third quarter. The Sixers center went to the locker room to have it evaluated but returned at the start of the fourth quarter. He went for X-rays of the ankle after the game.

The rookie center finished with five points and a team-high 10 rebounds to go with two assists.

Trey Burke and Derrick Favors led the Jazz with 17 points apiece. Favors also had 15 rebounds.

This game also marked the Sixers' first against rookie guard Dante Exum. They showed some predraft interest in the Australian standout. The Sixers knew more about Exum than any other team because of his relationship with Brown.

Brown coached the Australian national team. Four years ago, he invited Exum, then 15, to the Boomers' training camp. And when Brown was an assistant with the Melbourne Tigers, he coached Cecil Exum, Dante's father.

But they opted to select Joel Embiid with the third pick. Exum went two picks later to Utah.

On Saturday, he had five points on 1-for-7 shooting. He missed all four of his three-point attempts.