"We haven't won in that building since they built it," Sloan said. "I don't know, maybe they'll have a hail storm or something, maybe we'll have to play somewhere else and let us have a chance to try to play them in the parking lot or something.

"I don't know how we'd respond, but maybe it'd be a little bit better than what we have played them."

With temperatures in the 90s Thursday, hail is not in the forecast, leaving the Jazz to find a way to break the streak on their own. They are 0-15 all-time at AT&T Center and last won in San Antonio on Feb. 28, 1999, a Midwest Division game at the Alamodome.

The Jazz have dropped 19 consecutive regular-season games, plus three games in the 2007 Western Conference finals. They had an opportunity to end the streak Nov. 21 with Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker out but instead suffered a 119-94 loss.

"It's going to be in the back of your mind when you play," Deron Williams admitted, adding, "We've just got to find ways to win. Portland hadn't won in 11 trips, they go down there and win [Wednesday] night. We can do it. It can be done."

True enough, the Trail Blazers erased a 19-point deficit and came back to beat the Spurs 95-83 for their first win in San Antonio since 2002. The Spurs have suffered alarming recent losses to Cleveland and Oklahoma City.

Tim Duncan has battled sore knees for the second half of the season and had only four points and five rebounds on 2-for-8 shooting in the second game of a back-to-back set Wednesday. Ginobili is out for the season with a stress fracture in his ankle.

But the Jazz's greatest concerns are internal right now. They have played three must-win games on the road against Portland, Denver and Dallas in the last week-and-a-half and lost by an average of 20 points in each.

"This isn't the first game where it seemed like we didn't have a lot of energy," Kyle Korver said after the Dallas loss. "We got beat to loose balls. It's unacceptable. I don't understand it. It's probably something we've got to address."

They were caught in the standings by the Mavericks and could find themselves in eighth place with a loss tonight and a Dallas victory over New Orleans, staring at a potential first-round playoff series against the top-seeded L.A. Lakers.

The Jazz were at a loss to explain how they could suffer such a limp loss to the Mavericks only 72 hours after beating New Orleans 108-94 in their most impressive road victory to date.

"We played great defense the other day," Williams said. "We helped each other out, we shared the Basketball, we made extra passes. I had fun, so we've just got to get back to doing that, get back to having fun. This is not fun, losing by 30."

With two home games remaining, the Jazz could take a large step in avoiding the No. 8 seed with a victory tonight or Tuesday at the Lakers. They hold tiebreakers against both Dallas (conference record) and New Orleans (3-0 series sweep).

rsiler@sltrib.com Must-win? Big losses

The Jazz have played three must-win games on the road against Portland, Denver and Dallas in the last week-and-a-half and been blown out in each.

Date Opponent Score Days of Rest

March 31 Portland 125-104 O

April 2 Denver 114-104 1

Wednesday Dallas 130-101 2

Average score: 123-103