"We never really showed up in this game," said Deron Williams, who left in the second quarter with a bruised left leg but returned to play in the second half. Williams had 11 points and nine assists in 31 minutes.

"I don't know if we felt we had spent all our energy yesterday, but that's a good team we played against today -- a real good team -- and the energy and effort we came out with at the start wasn't enough to get a win."

The Jazz owned a 12-game winning streak after beating Toronto and Indiana to open this five-game trip, but couldn't avoid falling into the trap that Sloan cautioned them about after Wednesday's loss in Atlanta.

The skid has dropped the Jazz (41-26) to seventh in the Western Conference standings, only a game ahead of eighth-place Dallas but also only a game behind Northwest Division-leading Denver.

"It went from a good trip to a bad one," Williams said. "The first two games were good for us and then we kind of blew it against Atlanta, then we really blew it against Miami, and now we come out and we don't even really show up."

With Sunday's loss, the Jazz finished 5-10 on the road against Eastern Conference teams, beating Philadelphia, New Jersey and Detroit in addition to the Raptors and Pacers. They are 13-20 on the road overall and 3-13 in the second game of back-to-back sets.

Dwight Howard had 28 points and 20 rebounds for the Magic, who led 13-2 not even three minutes in and never trailed for the night. "What I watched of it, our energy level was so far down the line, we had a really difficult time," Sloan said.

It was hard not to conclude that the Jazz's collapse against the Heat cost them not one but two games. They were still licking their wounds Sunday after blowing a seven-point lead in the final minute of regulation as well as an eight-point lead in overtime.

"That's one of the toughest losses you'll have in this league probably and maybe your whole career," Sloan said.

The Magic opened the game with Rafer Alston driving for a layup, Courtney Lee running out for a dunk and Hedo Turkoglu hitting a three-pointer for a 7-0 lead. Not even a minute later, the soon-to-be 67-year-old Sloan was ejected.

Referee Monty McCutchen called Mehmet Okur for a foul as he slapped the ball out of Howard's hands, then hit Sloan with consecutive technicals as he rose from his seat to argue. It was Sloan's second ejection of the season.

"He had to try something," Williams said. "It wasn't looking too good. They were just running down the court and pretty much getting layups to start the ball game."

There are no records kept for quickest ejection in NBA history. For his part, Sloan said he couldn't recall whether he'd ever been tossed so fast. "I've been kicked out of a lot of games," he said.

"Not since I've been here," Carlos Boozer said. "I heard he was pretty fiery before I got here, though. But that's the first time I've seen him get tossed that early."

Howard could have had an even bigger night had he not missed nine free throws. He had 14 points in the third quarter and was nearly unstoppable, spinning for a dunk, tossing in a reverse layup off an alley-oop lob and powering in two three-point plays.

"He's a monster," Boozer said. "I think he's one of them dudes that people don't appreciate as much. He should be in the MVP talk, too. He's playing fantastic."

The Jazz will host Washington on Tuesday with a chance to end their losing streak, but only after making one thing official Sunday: They came East on three five-game trips this season and went home with a losing record on all of them.

"We're glad to be getting home, for one," Williams said, "and hopefully get back on the winning track."

rsiler@sltrib.com Storylines

In Short ? The Jazz trail from start to finish against Orlando and end up with a losing five-game trip as a result.

Key moment ? Jazz coach Jerry Sloan is ejected only 2:12 into the game with his team already trailing 7-2.

Key stat ? The Jazz go 5-10 on the road against Eastern Conference teams this season and are 13-20 on the road overall.