The Jazz trailed 27-7 at the end of the first quarter, fought back to close the first half down by eight, then pushed in front with an 11-0 run midway through the fourth quarter, even after coach Jerry Sloan was ejected with 10:29 remaining.

From the ruins of that first quarter, the Jazz matched the third-largest comeback victory (22 points) in franchise history, not that Sloan felt any sense of momentum afterward for the remaining three games of the annual pre-Christmas trip.

"Not if we don't come and play," said Sloan, who benched starters C.J. Miles and Ronnie Brewer the entire second half. "You can talk about playing Basketball all you want, but with that mess we put out there to start with, it's frustrating.

"To see us come out and not compete our butts off knowing that we're on the road for five games and it didn't look like that there was any concern about whether we won or not. Just try to get numbers and go home.

"But our job is still try to win and fortunately we had some guys fight back and fight up to win the ballgame. That's the bottom line."

After 27 games, the Andrei Kirilenko experiment at sixth man might have come to an end Wednesday. Sloan opted to start the second half with Kirilenko in for Miles as well as Kyle Korver in for Brewer. Korver finished with 18 points and Kirilenko with 10.

Sloan said he would reserve judgment about lineup changes until today -- "I've got enough headaches right now," he said -- but the Jazz's starting five has struggled in the past three games.

They gave up a 16-1 run out of halftime in Saturday's loss to Orlando, then fell behind by 12 in the first quarter Monday against Boston. Wednesday was the worst, with the Jazz making 3 of 19 shots and committing seven turnovers in the first quarter.

"I think our starting lineup is pretty good," Kirilenko said. "It's just matter of kind of last three games, probably, it was bad scenario. I think right now we can talk a little bit, analyze, and kind of probably change not the lineup, but change something in the way that we play."

Talking about the prospect of starting Kirilenko, Sloan said, "I've got to get somebody to come out there and compete and execute what we're doing rather than just try to take shots."

"He's not going to take a lot of shots," Sloan added. "If he does, he'll take the ball and put it on the floor a couple times, get on top of the basket. After that, then he'll take jump shots, which I don't any problem with."

Only a Morris Almond jumper with 2.8 seconds left in the first saved the Jazz from matching their franchise-record five-point second quarter in a Dec. 1, 1981, game against the Lakers. That game was a 31-point blowout, but Wednesday was different.

The Jazz climbed back in the second quarter, with the Nets shooting 5-for-19 and 0-for-5 from three-point range, and went into halftime down only 39-31. They took the lead for the first time with 7:17 left in the fourth on a Ronnie Price jumper.

That set the stage for an 11-0 run that included a three-pointer punctuated by a scream from Korver. The Nets made only 10 of 27 shots against the Jazz's zone defense in the fourth. Vince Carter scored a game-high 32 points but went 2-for-7 in the quarter.

Paul Millsap finished with 18 points and 12 rebounds for his 13th consecutive double-double starting in place of Carlos Boozer. Deron Williams sat for the entire second quarter but still totaled 17 points and 11 assists.

Asked if he thought Wednesday's victory was the start of something, Williams said: "I hope so. We need it to happen soon. What better way to do it on the road, finish the road trip out solid and have a merry Christmas."

rsiler@sltrib.com Jazz 103, Nets 92

In short ? The Jazz trailed 27-7 at the end of the first quarter, but recovered in time to beat the Nets.

Key moment ? Paul Millsap closed the second quarter with a follow-up, sending the Jazz into halftime down only eight.

Key stat ? The Jazz's previous lowest-scoring first quarter was 8, set twice, most recently April 6, 2005, at Minnesota. Biggest comeback victories in Jazz history