The Jazz knew just what they were getting into, but that still didn't stop Devin Harris and Vince Carter from making an already frustrating week at home that much more agonizing.
The two New Jersey Nets guards started Saturday night as the highest-scoring backcourt in the NBA, with a combined 46.1 points per game.
By evening's end, their average was even higher.
Harris dropped 34 and Carter added another 22 to account for 56 of New Jersey's points as the 8-7 Nets beat Utah 105-88 at sold-out EnergySolutions Arena, dropping the Jazz to 11-7 overall and 2-2 in a homestand that opened last Monday with a loss at the buzzer to Chicago.
Harris shot 13-of-17 from the field and 8-for-13 from the free-throw line, frustrating Jazz point guard Deron Williams — who opted to play in the back end of a back-to-back set, despite his sprained left ankle still not being at its best — to no end.
"I knew it was going to be a tough night guarding Devin before I came into it, just because of how they play and how he plays," said Williams, who called the crafty ex-Dallas Mavericks guard "real herky-jerky" with the basketball. "It's definitely tough for me to stay in front of him."
Jazz coach Jerry Sloan tried to give Williams all the help he could, but it ultimately proved to be of no avail.
"They did an excellent job of running their offense, staying within their offense, executing almost every time down the floor," said Sloan, whose club is now off until it visits Sacramento on Tuesday night to open a stretch with four games in five nights.
"Whatever we did on the defensive end was pretty much non-existent. We couldn't keep Harris in front of us, we couldn't keep Carter in front of us.
"We tried doubling (Harris), we tried a couple different things on the pick-and-rolls," the Jazz coach added. "But we never did get him under control. He had a terrific game. He had an absolutely terrific game."
Harris scored 19 of his 34 in a first half that New Jersey took 59-51.
But the Jazz — who got a 20-point, 10-rebound double-double from Paul Millsap, a 10-point, 11-board double-double from Mehmet Okur and a 10-point, 13-assist double-double from Williams — still were within four after C.J. Miles hit a 3-pointer to make it 64-60 for the Nets with just under eight minutes to go in the third quarter.
And then New Jersey took off on an 8-0 run, capped when Harris followed a missed Stromile Swift free throw with a Carter-fed layup.
Utah — which playing again without injured All-Star power forward Carlos Boozer, and which lost sixth man Andrei Kirilenko to a swollen right ankle before halftime — never recovered.
The Jazz trailed by double digits for the game's final 15 minutes and 22 seconds, and the Nets pushed their advantage to as many as 23 at 94-71 when Harris knocked down a 17-foot jumper midway through the fourth quarter.
New Jersey wound up shooting 51.9 percent from the field, including 56.4 percent before the break — something Sloan called "a cocktail for failure."
"They put us in a halfcourt game and we couldn't respond to it," said Sloan, who also bemoaned the Jazz's lack of energy, their 19 turnovers that led to 24 points by the Nets and New Jersey's three-rebound advantage on the boards.
"We didn't get any stops," added Williams, who logged 30 minutes in his third game of the week — but just his fifth of the season. "They got on top of the basket. If they didn't, we fouled them."
E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com