If the Philadelphia 76ers compiled a list of New Year's resolutions on their flight out of this city, it would contain several items familiar to their suffering fans.

The Sixers closed out 2005 in familiar fashion on Saturday night - an inability to make stops down the stretch, a late lead squandered, an opponent administering a beating on the boards.

They led by seven points with three minutes to play, were outscored by 16-3 down the stretch, and lost, 108-102, to Utah in front of a festive crowd of 19,911 - the Jazz's first sellout of the season - at the Delta Center.

A combination of his team's performance and a non-call on Allen Iverson as the Sixers' leading scorer slashed into the lane seeking the tying basket with 12 seconds to play left coach Maurice Cheeks in as foul a mood as he has been all season.

After a time-out with 11.5 seconds left, Cheeks smashed his greaseboard to the court, breaking it into pieces. His demeanor lightened very little as he went through his post-game news conference.

"We had some shots that we didn't make, they made some incredible shots, but we played well enough to win that game," Cheeks said. "And that's as much as I'm going to say about that. We played well enough to win the game. We should have won the game. We gave ourselves a chance to win the game."

Asked about his frustration with the officials late, Cheeks said, "I'm not going to go there."

"Calls are part of the game, and we've got to live with them," he said. "Sometimes we're going to get some calls; sometimes we're not going to get some calls. Unfortunately, tonight we didn't. That's just part of the game."

The Sixers looked as if they were en route to a victory after Chris Webber's jumper with exactly three minutes remaining gave them a 99-92 lead. To that point in the quarter, the Jazz, playing without coach Jerry Sloan, who was ejected in the third period, were 4 of 15 from the field.

But the Sixers made just one of their last six shots - Webber's short jumper with 58.1 seconds to play that gave them a tenuous 101-98 lead. And Mehmet Okur wiped out the advantage on Utah's next possession, knocking down a three-point basket to tie the game with 45.2 seconds left.

Iverson, who led all scorers with 37 points, sank 1 of 2 free throws to put his team up by one, but Andrei Kirilenko gave the Jazz the lead for good when he drove into the lane, sank a layup, and made the subsequent free throw with 18.9 seconds to play.

After a time-out, Iverson drove into the lane, but Utah's Milt Palacio got his hand on the ball as Iverson was starting his jump, disrupting Iverson's rhythm, and the shot deflected harmlessly off the rim. The Jazz closed the game with four free throws.

Webber added 21 points for the Sixers and Andre Iguodala contributed 18. Gordon Giricek led the Jazz with 23 and Okur chipped in with 21 and 13 rebounds.

The loss was tough for the Sixers to take. They have lost three of their last four - by six, four and three points.

"I think we just have to realize when we look up at the clock, we can't panic," Iguodala said. "I think with two minutes left, we panicked a little bit. We didn't execute plays and we ended up taking shots we really didn't want."

The Jazz outrebounded the Sixers, 43-34, negating the visitors' 52.9 percent shooting from the field. The Sixers slipped to 3-15 in games in which they have been beaten on the boards.

The Sixers used a 22-6 run in the third quarter to take a 70-61 lead. During this time, Sloan picked up two technical fouls in a 30-second span and was ejected with 7 minutes, 8 seconds to play in the period. The Jazz carried on, however, and rallied with a 9-0 burst to tie it. Kevin Ollie's 45-foot heave from near midcourt at the buzzer gave the Sixers an 82-81 lead entering the final 12 minutes.

The fourth quarter was tight throughout. However, with the score tied at 91, the Jazz came up empty on five straight possessions, turning the ball over on three of them, and the Sixers opened up a little daylight.

Iverson made a free throw and a scoop shot and set up Webber twice for baskets, once on a pretty lob that Webber redirected into the hoop. Webber's jumper from the left elbow put the Sixers in front, 99-92, but the Jazz never stopped coming.

Worse yet for the visitors, Samuel Dalembert fouled out with 2:17 remaining, the third consecutive game in which he has been disqualified on fouls.

Largely because of Iverson, two of Utah's three-point guards - starter Keith McLeod and rookie Deron Williams - fouled out. But before he left, McLeod hit his only shot of the night on the possession immediately preceding Okur's game-tying three.