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Paul Millsap is looking forward to getting away.

With the short-handed Jazz entering the All-Star break on a downward spiral — still recovering from the sudden departure of former coach Jerry Sloan and dealing with a four-game losing streak — the Utah forward is highly anticipating completely disappearing and temporarily leaving his job behind.

"We're trying to find ourselves," said Millsap, following the Jazz's 107-100 loss to the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday night at EnergySolutions Arena before a sellout crowd of 19,911.

"We kind of lost ourselves for a little bit," Millsap said. "We've got to find ourselves and come together."

Millsap is not the only Utah player who needs to hit the refresh button.

The Jazz (31-26) enter a weeklong break between games having lost five consecutive home contests for the first time since Feb. 15 through March 29, 1982.

Meanwhile, new coach Tyrone Corbin has yet to leave Sloan's ghost behind. Corbin is winless in his first three contests after replacing Sloan. And while a Utah team taking the court with just nine active players has shown improvement during the last two games, Corbin knows that minor moves forward amount to little as the stretch run of the season approaches.

The Jazz are 4-13 during their last 17 games. As a result of the fall, Utah has dropped to fourth place in the Northwest Division, 51/2 games behind Oklahoma City. But the Jazz's overall playoff picture is even bleaker. Utah entered the season pining for a high playoff seed. Now, the Jazz are on the verge of staring at the postseason party from the outside looking in.

Utah is tied with Memphis for the eighth and final spot, 16 games behind San Antonio.

Still, Corbin is not panicking. His team — and the season — is at a crossroads. Corbin said confidence and optimism are what his squad requires as it prepares for the final 25 games of the regular season.

"I think we're coming out of [it] and I recognize we've been short-handed and we've been through some adversity," Corbin said. "We're looking forward to coming out of it and having a good chance to make a run in the second half of the season."

Al Jefferson scored a team-high 23 points and pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds to lead Utah.

But for the second consecutive night, a single player torched the Jazz and ruined Utah's night.

Tuesday it was Phoenix's Channing Frye, who scored a career-high 31 points during the Suns' road win against Utah.

Wednesday belonged to Golden State guard Monta Ellis, who recorded a game-high 35 points on 16-of-25 shooting. Twenty-three of Ellis' points came during the second half, while he poured in 11 during a fourth quarter that saw the Warriors (26-29) outscore the Jazz 31-24.

Utah entered the final period tied at 76. Then Ellis went wild, thrashing through the Jazz's weak interior defense and scoring at will.

"It was a big game for us," Ellis said. "We treated it like it was a playoff game, and we came out and played together and got the win. I just took what the defense was giving me."

Utah's defense gave up a lot. Golden State shot 54.5 percent (42 of 77) from the floor and 42.1 percent (8 of 19) behind the 3-point line.

Now, the Jazz are looking upward. And Utah's once-promising season is searching for direction.

"It's been a frustrating year for everybody," Jazz guard Deron Williams said. "But we still believe in each other and feel like we can be a good team. We just need to figure things out."

bsmith@sltrib.comTwitter: @tribjazz —

Storylines

R In short • The Jazz fall to the Golden State Warriors 107-100 Wednesday at home.

Key stat • Golden State shoots 54.5 percent from the field and records 54 points in the paint.

Key moment • The Warriors' Monta Ellis scores five consecutive points late during the fourth quarter to stretch Golden State's lead to 99-92.