Four games into a new season, the Jazz’s slightly rebuilt offense has been defined by two unattractive facts: The ball is sticking and points seldom come easy.

While starters Al Jefferson, Paul Millsap and Devin Harris still form the core of Utah’s attack, everything from an abbreviated training camp and minimal regular-season practice to a starting rotation that settled in only Saturday during a road loss to San Antonio has contributed to the Jazz’s struggles.

Several players said deeper issues form the foundation of Utah’s offensive woes, though, and the main culprits are a lack of motion and comfort when the Jazz (1-3) possess the ball.

“We’ve got to create some easier shots for ourselves,” said starting small forward Gordon Hayward, after a 104-89 defeat to the Spurs. “That may be just cutting harder or getting stops defensively so we can run — something to get a little bit of a rhythm going.”

Some of Utah’s 2010-11 beat still exists. Jefferson was the Jazz’s average leading scorer last season, and he’s the focal point again this year. The eight-year veteran center with a soft touch tops the team in points (14.7), minutes (30), field goals attempted (16.3) and made (6.7). Meanwhile, Millsap and Harris rank in the top four of the Jazz’s 13 players in scoring and field-goal attempts.

But with Utah’s tempo often lagging and the first unit bogged down in methodical midcourt sets, the ball has regularly dragged across the floor as other players watch and wait instead of taking action.

The Jazz have recorded 21 or fewer points during eight of 16 quarters this season, including three of four in a loss to San Antonio that saw Utah trail by 27 in the fourth period. The Jazz entered Sunday ranked 27th out of 30 teams in average points per shot (1.07), 26th in field-goal percentage (40.1), and 23rd in scoring (90.5) and assists (18.3).

“We’ve still got a lot to work on. … Things are just not working out for us,” Millsap said.

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The lack of offensive action, combined with a defense that’s mentally collapsed when shots fail to fall, has put Utah in a hole. The Jazz have trailed by double digits in all four of their games, given up game-changing runs during their three losses, and top only winless Washington in point differential (-13.5).

“Effort is big with us. … At the same time, we have to create easier shots,” reserve point guard Earl Watson said. “Our defense has to create shots in transition: layups, open jumpers, rhythm shots. When we don’t get transition points and you’re playing on the road and you’re playing behind, that’s a lot of pressure for each shooter.”

Increased pressure and a lack of touches are forcing Utah wing players Raja Bell, C.J. Miles and Hayward to shoot out of rhythm. The trio has often been excluded from offensive sets, while Bell — Utah’s starting shooting guard — has been little more than a placeholder. The 12-year veteran ranks 11th on the Jazz in average points (2.8), field-goal percentage (29.4) and field-goal attempts (4.3). Meanwhile, Utah ranks 27th in the league in average 3-pointers made (4), 26th in 3-point percentage (26.2) and 24th in attempts (15.3).

“When you’re constantly kind of walking the ball up the floor after getting scored on and whatever, you end up just standing a little bit,” Hayward said. “It’s frustrating — it’s very frustrating. But hopefully we’ll be able to look at the [game] film and fix some of those things.”

bsmith@sltrib.com

Twitter: @tribjazz

facebook.com/tribjazz

Four games into a new season, the Jazz’s slightly rebuilt offense has been defined by two unattractive facts: The ball is sticking and points seldom come easy.

While starters Al Jefferson, Paul Millsap and Devin Harris still form the core of Utah’s attack, everything from an abbreviated training camp and minimal regular-season practice to a starting rotation that settled in only Saturday during a road loss to San Antonio has contributed to the Jazz’s struggles.

Several players said deeper issues form the foundation of Utah’s offensive woes, though, and the main culprits are a lack of motion and comfort when the Jazz (1-3) possess the ball.

“We’ve got to create some easier shots for ourselves,” said starting small forward Gordon Hayward, after a 104-89 defeat to the Spurs. “That may be just cutting harder or getting stops defensively so we can run — something to get a little bit of a rhythm going.”

Some of Utah’s 2010-11 beat still exists. Jefferson was the Jazz’s average leading scorer last season, and he’s the focal point again this year. The eight-year veteran center with a soft touch tops the team in points (14.7), minutes (30), field goals attempted (16.3) and made (6.7). Meanwhile, Millsap and Harris rank in the top four of the Jazz’s 13 players in scoring and field-goal attempts.

But with Utah’s tempo often lagging and the first unit bogged down in methodical midcourt sets, the ball has regularly dragged across the floor as other players watch and wait instead of taking action.

The Jazz have recorded 21 or fewer points during eight of 16 quarters this season, including three of four in a loss to San Antonio that saw Utah trail by 27 in the fourth period. The Jazz entered Sunday ranked 27th out of 30 teams in average points per shot (1.07), 26th in field-goal percentage (40.1), and 23rd in scoring (90.5) and assists (18.3).

“We’ve still got a lot to work on. … Things are just not working out for us,” Millsap said.

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The lack of offensive action, combined with a defense that’s mentally collapsed when shots fail to fall, has put Utah in a hole. The Jazz have trailed by double digits in all four of their games, given up game-changing runs during their three losses, and top only winless Washington in point differential (-13.5).

“Effort is big with us. … At the same time, we have to create easier shots,” reserve point guard Earl Watson said. “Our defense has to create shots in transition: layups, open jumpers, rhythm shots. When we don’t get transition points and you’re playing on the road and you’re playing behind, that’s a lot of pressure for each shooter.”

Increased pressure and a lack of touches are forcing Utah wing players Raja Bell, C.J. Miles and Hayward to shoot out of rhythm. The trio has often been excluded from offensive sets, while Bell — Utah’s starting shooting guard — has been little more than a placeholder. The 12-year veteran ranks 11th on the Jazz in average points (2.8), field-goal percentage (29.4) and field-goal attempts (4.3). Meanwhile, Utah ranks 27th in the league in average 3-pointers made (4), 26th in 3-point percentage (26.2) and 24th in attempts (15.3).

“When you’re constantly kind of walking the ball up the floor after getting scored on and whatever, you end up just standing a little bit,” Hayward said. “It’s frustrating — it’s very frustrating. But hopefully we’ll be able to look at the [game] film and fix some of those things.”

bsmith@sltrib.com

Twitter: @tribjazz

facebook.com/tribjazz

San Antonio • The Jazz’s locker-room door opened Saturday night and C.J. Miles sat hunched down in a chair, studying a box score, while Paul Millsap eyed rows of statistics over his teammates’ shoulder.

Utah had fallen 104-89 to the San Antonio Spurs. The Jazz shot just 37.1 percent from the floor, 12.5 percent behind the 3-point line, distributed only 11 assists and scored 21 points or less in the first three quarters.

With 9 minutes, 52 seconds left in the fourth, Utah (1-3) was down by 27 points and the team’s third blowout in four games to start the 2011-12 campaign was already in the books.

But what wasn’t in the box score were words such as effort, energy and communication. They were the same problems that plagued the Jazz during back-to-back road embarrassments to open the season. And they were the exact issues Utah coach Tyrone Corbin hammered home after watching San Antonio (3-1) run the Jazz out of the AT&T Center via a 20-8 second-quarter run that featured 11 consecutive points from Manu Ginobili, who scored a game-high 23 and drilled 5 of 6 3s.

Al Jefferson led Utah with a team-high 21 points and 11 rebounds, while reserve Josh Howard added 18 points and seven boards.

Corbin knows this will be an at times rough, at times joyous season for the Jazz. Utah’s young and rebuilding, but still trying to win games with veterans such as Devin Harris, Millsap and Jefferson. As a result, unpredictability will rein.

But the one thing Corbin’s squad can control is its nightly effort. And after seeing the Jazz lose three games by an average of 19 points – all featuring big-time, game-changing runs by the victors – consistent effort could be the one trait that keeps Utah moving forward even if defeats pile up.

“We need to keep searching for who we are. We just need to make sure we understand that we need to keep working to get better,” said Corbin, who kept the locker room closed longer than normal for the second game in the three contests.

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He added: “We just need to make sure the guys understand that it’s a long season. We need to stay together and work.”

Sticking together was again a familiar postgame refrain. Reserve forward Derrick Favors said it’s the Jazz’s primary problem when on-the-court play falls apart, while veteran backup point guard Earl Watson said Utah’s shown a tendency to cave when it falls behind on the road.

The Jazz have trailed by double-digits in all four games this season, and Utah had to come back from 13 points down Friday to knock off Philadelphia at home.

“We’re a different team on the road. It’s obvious, for whatever reason,” Watson said. “But you can’t sit there and look for the reason why. You have to look for the reason how to win on the road. First, we’ve got to start getting close.”

The Spurs made that goal almost impossible. San Antonio ran a shooting clinic during the first half, burning Utah on rotations that left the Jazz’s perimeter naked and allowed the Spurs to drain 80 percent (8 of 10) of their 3s.

After Utah was lifted by its youth movement Friday, Saturday was a replay of blowouts to the: poor defense, a methodical and lethargic offense, and energy that occasionally spurted but never became in vogue.

Now, the Jazz return to Salt Lake City staring at a cushion of 12 of 15 January games at EnergySolutions Arena. But two months of brutal road travel follows, and Corbin’s more concerned with his team’s progress and evolution than random home wins.

“It’s going to be up and down for a while until we get [settled],” he said. “It’s just not the way that you lose games – it means something the way we play in a losing ballgame. For the most part, the 48-minute effort that we’re looking for, we haven’t gotten in the losses.”

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SAN ANTONIO — What do the Jazz need to do in order to win, then? Keep Al Jefferson out of the game?

Following a three-point win over Philadelphia Friday night, Utah reverted back to the same poor play it had in its first two games of the year with the Los Angeles Lakers and Denver, and shot below 40 percent for the second time in four contests (including 2-of-16 from the 3-point line) in getting hammered, 104-89, by the San Antonio Spurs Saturday night in Texas.

Jefferson returned to the lineup after sitting out against the Sixers at EnergySolutions Arena.

GUARDS: Devin Harris continues to turn in sub-par performances. He scored eight points on just 2-of-8 shooting, while dishing out just three assists. Curiously, he shared time with Earl Watson, who was equally bad in going just 2-of-9 from the floor with no assists.

Raja Bell has yet to play great in any game, going scoreless in three attempts in 17 minutes Saturday, while C.J. Miles returned to inconsistency by scoring seven points on just 2-of-7 shooting. Meanwhile, San Antonio shooting guard Manu Ginobili was nearly flawless in scoring nearly as many points (23) as he logged minutes (24), while going 9-of-10 from the field. He simply ran around, shot over and backcut the listless Jazz guards whenever he actually was in the game. Really, no Jazz guard hardly played well at all. GRADE: D-

FORWARDS: Paul Millsap scored eight points on 4-of-7 shooting with seven rebounds, but he really needs more shot attempts. Derrick Favors gave a mediocre performance in 23 minutes in his first effort off the bench this season, while Gordon Hayward probably gave his worst performance of the young season, going just 1-of-9 for four points. He tallied four assists and three rebounds. Former all-star Josh Howard scored 18 points, but it came on 6-of-16 shooting. Future Spurs hall-of-famer Tim Duncan was limited to a 4-of-13 effort. GRADE: C-

CENTERS: Jefferson did return with a decent offensive game in scoring 21 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. He and rookie Enes Kanter allowed DeJuan Blair to score 17 points on just eight field goal attempts. Kanter’s two rebounds mark the lowest rebounding game of his four-game NBA career. It remains to be seen if the Jazz will miss Mehmet Okur. GRADE: B-

BENCH: You know when you’re in trouble when Howard’s 6-of-16 effort leads the bench attack. Overall, the reserves shot just 16-of-43 from the field in going just 1-of-8 from the 3-point line. The saving grace? The Jazz bench outscored the San Antonio reserves 48-30. GRADE: C

SAN ANTONIO — A fan sitting behind press row at the AT&T Center shared a loud mouthful of free advice with the Utah Jazz on Saturday night.

“Put in Hornacek!”

That option, of course, hasn’t been available for years. Now an assistant coach, Hornacek has different game-time responsibilities these days anyway.

But even without good knees and with his suit and dressy loafers on, the former Jazz sharpshooter’s touch would’ve come in handy in this 104-89 blowout loss to the San Antonio Spurs.

It would have been even more helpful for the Jazz if a “Take out Ginobili!” shout had been adhered to by Spurs coach Gregg Popovich.

Manu Ginobili hit a sizzling 9-for-10 from the field while sinking 5 of 6 3-pointers. The versatile sharpshooter finished with 23 points and almost single-handedly turned this into a rout in the first half when he scored eight straight to give the Spurs a double-digit lead they never came close to relinquishing.

DeJuan Blair added 17 points with 10 rebounds, while Tony Parker (14 points) and Tim Duncan (12 points, nine rebounds) reminded the young Jazz that the old guard still rules in these parts.

On the other (cold) hand, there was Utah.

Reminiscent of their woeful opening-day shooting struggle in Los Angeles, the Jazz displayed some odious offense in losing on the road for the third time in five days.

Utah missed 56-of-89 shots, finishing with a 37.1 shooting percentage.

Other than a big night from center Al Jefferson, a late addition to the starting lineup, this was a rough night from the field for the 1-3 Jazz.

Big Al shot 10-for-19 for a team-high 21 points and grabbed 11 rebounds a night after missing a game due to an inflamed right ankle.

The rest of the team combined to shoot 23-for-70 (32.8 percent), including an ice cold 2-for-16 from 3-point range. That, compared with the Spurs’ 10-for-16 outing from beyond the arc.

The Spurs were 8-for-10 from the 3-point line in the first half, when it took a 54-39 lead.

Ginobili did the most damage, drilling 5 of 6 3-pointers for 19 points.

Meanwhile, the Jazz struggled mightily on both ends.

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