Offensive explosion hides a painful reality for the Utah Jazz

The Utah Jazz came into Monday night's game riding a three-game losing streak and desperately needed to turn things around. They did just that for one night with a historic offensive explosion against a struggling Indiana Pacers team.

The Jazz set an NBA season high with 154 points on the night, beating the total of 146 points that were scored by Miami against Memphis just a few weeks ago.

And it was not just a one-man show; this time, the whole team got into the act:

And we finally got a great game from Ace Bailey in the process! The rookie showed out with 20 points from a flourish of moves on the night:

With any blowout win, there usually isn't a lot to complain about for Jazz fans, but there was something tonight that was glaring, even in the glow of this explosive, record-setting win:

DEFENSE. Or the lack thereof.

It's been the Jazz's Achilles H\heel this season.

The Jazz gave up 128 points on the night to the visiting Pacers, which puts their average at 124 points per game allowed over the last nine outings. Not coincidentally, the Jazz are 3-6 in that span.

The loss of Walker Kessler for the season has not only changed the Jazz's depth and rotations, but it has also left the middle open for easy drives by opponents. And with few able defenders on the roster, it has been open season for Jazz opponents.

Jusuf Nurkic, despite being a savvy veteran who helps the Jazz in a number of ways, is a sieve on defense much of the time, and has exactly THREE outings where he was a positive in the plus/minus column. More often than not, he's near a minus-10, which doesn't bode well for a starting center in the NBA.

But Nurk has at least been predictable in that regard. Kyle Filipowski, who has four negative plus/minus outings ranging from minus-nine to minus-24, and has yet to top 13 points in any game, is making it hard for Will Hardy to play him consistently, even with minutes available in Kessler's absence.

It has gotten so bad that Kevin Love is getting a piece of the action as a small-ball five at times, and his defense, at age 37, isn't much to write home about. At least Love can stretch the floor and screen well for others, giving him some value for the Jazz.

Since Kessler's injury, the Jazz have been outrebounded in every game but one (the 105-103 win over Boston). And it's been a parade to the basket for opposing players, with little resistance, something that will have to change for this Jazz team to compete for 30 wins, let alone the playoffs.

So while it's great to see the Jazz scoring at will, it would be nice to see some resistance on the other side of the court.