One night after scoring a season-high 29 points against Detroit, Williams couldn't get anything going in the fourth quarter Saturday. He went 0-for-5 with a turnover and was outscored 10-0 in the quarter by Bulls rookie Derrick Rose.

As the Jazz stalled out, it was impossible not to consider the impact of Friday's winter storm in Detroit, which forced the Jazz to stay overnight following their victory. They woke up Saturday, bused an hour to the airport, and arrived in Chicago after 10 a.m.

Having once played five games in five nights during his days with the Baltimore Bullets, Jazz coach Jerry Sloan didn't want to hear anything in the way of excuses.

"I don't like to hear people say you should be tired when you're getting paid to play Basketball," Sloan said, "because guys that work 8 to 5, they don't want to hear about a guy being tired."

The Jazz couldn't gain traction in the fourth, exemplified as Williams attacked the basket, drew contact from Andres Nocioni, but did not get a call as he missed a layup. The Bulls pushed ahead and took a 98-92 lead on Ben Gordon's three-pointer with 3:52 left.

As the Jazz called timeout, Williams headed toward referee Gary Zielinski instead of the bench and argued furiously. Zielinski said Nocioni had remained vertical on the play; Williams said Nocioni's arms clearly came down as he went up.

"That was frustrating," said Williams, who finished with 19 points and six assists. "The one before that was frustrating. There were a lot of them that were frustrating. The one in the first half was frustrating."

With the Jazz trailing 98-94, Paul Millsap was called for an offensive foul, ostensibly for hitting Nocioni in the head as they battled for position. After the game, Millsap reenacted Nocioni grabbing his arm, jerking it back and recoiling to draw the foul.

Mehmet Okur and Andrei Kirilenko both missed tying three-pointers. Williams then threw away a pass and slumped with his hands on his knees after he couldn't get another layup to drop, staring at the Jazz bench in exasperation.

The Jazz were outscored 35-15 on the fast break and 54-42 in the paint, even as the Bulls played without big men Drew Gooden and Tyrus Thomas. Sloan was disappointed in his players' shot selection with Millsap and Okur having mismatches inside.

"You're not going to get stops when you just fire threes up there," Sloan said, "and if they don't go in, you see what a track meet you have to deal with."

Williams, meanwhile, came out on the losing end of his battle with Rose. It was the first game between the two since Williams sprained his left ankle when he landed on Rose's foot attempting a three-pointer in an Oct. 18 preseason game.

The injury kept him out for 13 games and left Williams a shadow of his former self a month after returning. Williams sent Rose to the bench in foul trouble early, but the Bulls' No. 1 overall pick still finished with 24 points.

"He's not playing like a rookie," Williams said. "I don't think he's a rookie any more. He's one of the best point guards in this league and he definitely took over."

The Jazz were unable to avenge their Nov. 24 loss to the Bulls at EnergySolutions Arena and now must win Tuesday at Milwaukee to post a winning record (3-2) on their annual pre-Christmas trip, something they have done only once in the last four years.

As the Jazz learned injured forward Carlos Boozer will see a specialist in Los Angeles on Dec. 29 about his injured left knee, Paul Millsap hit his first eight shots on the way to totaling 22 points and 10 rebounds on 11-of-14 shooting.

Millsap hit three jumpers in the first half, including two over Joakim Noah, served up an alley-oop dunk to Mehmet Okur on the break in the third quarter and drained a 15-foot fadeaway over Larry Hughes in the post to give the Jazz a 74-69 lead.

rsiler@sltrib.com Storylines

In short ? The Jazz faded in the fourth quarter after Friday's double-overtime victory at Detroit and dropped to 2-2 on their annual pre-Christmas trip.

Key moment ? Ben Gordon hits a three-pointer to give Chicago a 98-92 lead after Deron Williams misses a layup and can't get a foul call.

Key stat: The Bulls scored 29 points off the Jazz's 20 turnovers and outscored them 35-15 on the fast break.