"Jazz forward Gordon Hayward took his time answering. He'd seen what guard Raja Bell had seen. Noticed the same problems documented by center Al Jefferson and coach Tyrone Corbin. The Jazz had just fallen 101-87 to Oklahoma City on Friday, losing their fifth game in six contests, and Hayward had been asked to rate Utah's half-court offense on a scale of 1 to 10.

When the Jazz are humming, turning transition points into easy baskets and getting everyone involved in the blitz, the second-year Jazz forward said his team's attack regularly varies between seven and nine.

But when Utah's offense becomes methodical and predictable, and players spend their postgame interviews using words such as stalled and stagnant, Hayward's rating sank to two or three.

"There are times where we're cutting hard and we're getting backdoors and setting screens and getting cuts to the basket and getting wide-open jump shots — drive and kick," Hayward said.

But when the attributes disappear and the Jazz's offense dwindles down to a two-man show that looks average, at best?

"You're getting one-and-done," Hayward said.

Which is exactly what Utah (13-12) has often received while losing eight of 12 and slowly crawling to an early-season crossroads. The Jazz start a three-game away series Sunday in Memphis — a journey Jefferson said his backsliding team cannot afford to emerge from without a winning record."