By Phil Green
ESPNET SportsZone

Jordan jukes Jazz in Game 1

NBA Finals page

Scottie Pippen, left, and the Bulls pressured the Jazz into an uncharacteristic 18 turnovers.

"We had a lot of turnovers, especially in the second half," Jeff Hornacek said. "And against a great team you can't have that many turnovers."

During the regular season, the Jazz ranked 12th in the league by committing 15.4 turnovers per game; Utah has been even better in the playoffs, giving the ball away just 13.3 times per contest. On Sunday, the Jazz reached that total in the second and third quarters, en route to 18 turnovers for the evening.

"I don't know if it was the defense or first-game jitters," Jazz center Greg Foster said. "We need to know we can't turn the ball over. We can't throw the ball, hoping someone's going to be there to catch it and put it in the basket.

"We came out from the half and had four straight turnovers -- didn't even get a look at the basket. That killed us."

As a matter of fact, it took more than two minutes before Utah attempted a second-half shot.

"I felt most of the turnovers came where maybe they might have turned it over first and then we gave it right back," said John Stockton, who committed a career playoff-high seven turnovers. "That is maybe a sign of being a little anxious, trying to make things happen too quickly."

COSTLY MISTAKES

John Stockton and the Utah Jazz had trouble taking care of the ball Sunday: Turnovers Stockton Jazz Season avg. 3.0 15.4 Playoff avg. 3.1 13.3 Sunday 7 18

Speaking of being rushed, the Jazz can't play Wednesday's Game 2 soon enough.

"I do hate (that) we've got two or three days between games," Malone said. "Any time you lose a tough game, you want to jump right back into it.

"But the thing about it, this team showed a lot of character and poise. We are not going to get our heads down and think this thing is over with. You still have to show up to play, and we are going to show up to play; we are going to play a lot better than we did tonight."

Better play means a lot of things. It means hitting clutch free throws. It means shooting the ball better than 33.3 percent in the first quarter. And most of all for the Utah Jazz, it means not turning the ball over.

"I think we will just go out in Game 2 with the attitude we had tonight -- that we think we can win," Hornacek said.

But as the Jazz now knows, thinking you can and doing it are two completely different things.