(My Sportsbook) - John Stockton, 40, and Karl Malone, 39, are once again faced with concerns about their mileage, but this time the future Hall of Fame duo may be slow to respond.

The Jazz have made the playoffs in each of the last 19 years, but slipped in as the eighth seed in 2001-02 following a mediocre regular season. The Jazz are off to an 0-2 start this season and find themselves in danger of getting lost early in a loaded Western Conference, with hungry teams like the Clippers and Rockets breathing down their neck.

In their season-opener Wednesday, the Jazz were pounded in their former city by a motivated New Orleans Hornets squad, 100-75. Utah followed that setback with a 105-98 loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Thursday at Philips Arena.

"We had 20 turnovers last night, 21 turnovers tonight," said coach Jerry Sloan following the Atlanta loss. "You don't deserve to win when you play like that. When you play that way, it doesn't matter who you are, or who you think you are, you're not going to be able to beat anybody. That's not even good CBA basketball."

Malone scored 20 points in each contest and Stockton finished with 15 points and 11 assists in the loss to the Hawks, but the weak defensive effort is what's hurting the Jazz, who allowed 100 points in both games. Atlanta virtually scored at will Thursday, shooting 51 percent from the field.

Sloan is considering inserting second-year player Jarron Collins in the starting lineup at center and sending Greg Ostertag to the bench. Collins scored 18 points against Atlanta and grabbed five rebounds, four offensive. Collins also reached the free throw 11 times, hitting eight. Meanwhile, Ostertag scored three points versus the Hornets and five against the Hawks.

With Donyell Marshall now in Chicago, the Jazz are looking for Andrei Kirilenko to improve upon his strong rookie season and provide them with a solid scoring option. However, the Russian forward is averaging just 8.0 points so far.

"We don't have a lot of time to get this right before the next game," said Malone. "We have a tough November. We're not starting off the way we like to."

After hosting Golden State on Saturday, the Jazz play six of their next eight games on the road. The stretch includes a five-game road trip against Eastern Conference foes.