SALT LAKE CITY _ The weariness of a season-long road trip began to show Friday night in the Nets' 112-97 loss to the Jazz.
Brook Lopez scored 17 points and was the only Nets starter in double figures and Quincy Acy had a season-high 18 points as the Nets lost for the third time in four games on their current eight-game road swing.
"They had an urgency from the get go," Lopez said of playoff-bound Utah. "I think we responded for a little bit. They did a great job of doing what they do defensively and they executed the heck out of us repeatedly."
Jeremy Lin was limited to seven points in 17 minutes in his fourth game back from an injured left hamstring and the Nets failed to continue any momentum from Wednesday's win at Sacramento.
Lin was limited partly by second-half foul trouble. He picked up fouls three and four less than four minutes into the second half, and was held to single digits in scoring for the third time in his four games back from injury.
The point guard spent more time working on his perimeter shot before the game than he actually played Friday night. He was the last Net on the floor an hour before tipoff, working to get his legs under him and improve his jumper.
He was 3-for-7 from the floor, with two assists and three turnovers.
Nets coach Kenny Atkinson feared before the game that Lin's point-guard matchup with Jazz star George Hill would be a tough one. He proved prophetic as Hill led five Utah players in double figures with a game-high 34 points and seven assists.
"George Hill was fantastic," Atkinson said. "We just didn't have the requisite energy, the requisite juice to compete with them tonight.
"He controlled the game. He's crafty and he knows how to bait you into fouls. That was one of our keys, keeping him off the free-throw line."
The Nets reached 50 losses for the second season and 17th time in the franchise's 40 NBA seasons.
Trevor Booker played an inspired 25 minutes against the team he spent the past two seasons with. The forward scored eight points and grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds.
Booker and the rest of the bench helped keep the Nets close in the first half. The reserves scored 22 of the Nets' first 40 points and finished the night with a 56-24 advantage over the Jazz bench.
"Quincy came in and did a god job," Lin said. "I think Isaiah (Whitehead) had good energy. Sean (Kilpatrick) had good energy. But I felt like our starters didn't have the juice and it started right from the get go. We're going to fill our cups up and get after it tomorrow night."
Lin's night was a slight step back. He had 17 points against Sacramento in 20 minutes, up from the 15 he played in each of his first two games.
Atkinson cautioned before the game that the team had no interest in pushing Lin too hard, too fast over the final 22 games. Clearly it's a wise choice, given the team's place at the bottom of the league standings.
"We're going to gradually increase him," the coach said. "We'll get the information from our performance team and doctors. We're not going to rush this thing. We're going to do it gradually."
Gradually fade is what the Nets did Friday. A nine-point halftime deficit became an 18-point hole by the end of the third quarter. They were held to less than 100 points for just the third time in their past nine games.
Joe Harris left the game in the second quarter and was evaluated for a concussion. He had two points in 10 minutes and did not return in the second half.
