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Boozer, Jazz rebound in 113-99 win over Spurs

Nov 6, 2009 - 7:18 AM By DOUG ALDEN AP Sports Writer

SALT LAKE CITY(AP) -- The boos that the Utah Jazz heard early quickly turned to cheers of "Booz!"

Carlos Boozer and the Utah Jazz finally put on a show worth rooting for, beating the San Antonio Spurs 113-99 on Thursday night.

The Jazz ended a two-game losing skid and undid a little of the damage done in an embarrassing loss two nights before.

"We played a lot harder," Utah coach Jerry Sloan said. "I was proud of the way we played. Everyone was involved, trying to help each other and give us chances to win."

Boozer, who had been struggling, finished with 27 points and 14 rebounds and Deron Williams also scored 27 and added nine assists in Utah's first win over San Antonio since April 2008.

Andrei Kirilenko added 12 points and six assists and rookie Wesley Matthews scored a career-high 12 points for Utah, which improved to 2-3.

Mehmet Okur and Ronnie Brewer scored 10 apiece as all five Utah starters scored in double figures.

"Everybody was active, especially from the defensive end," Okur said. "From the first second until the 48th (minute) everybody was active. That's the way we've got to play every night."

The Jazz shot over 55 percent in the first half and cooled off only slightly in the second, going 19 for 38 in the final two periods.

"We've got to finish off games like we did tonight," said Boozer, who finished 12 for 20 from the floor. "We needed to play a full 48 minutes of basketball and that's what we got tonight. Prior to this game, we hadn't done that."

Tim Duncan had 15 points and 13 rebounds and Tony Parker had 21 points, but scored just four in the second half as the Spurs couldn't overcome the Jazz's shooting.

DuJuan Blair scored 14 and Manu Ginobili had 11 points for the Spurs, who gave up a season-high 60 points in the first half.

"We've got a lot of work to do to become a good defensive team and Utah obviously took advantage of that tonight," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "They are always an aggressive club and they do a great job of fighting for 48 minutes."

The Jazz were coming off a devastating loss at Dallas on Tuesday, when they blew a 16-point lead and allowed the Mavericks to come back and win with a 44-point fourth quarter.

Utah smothered any comeback attempts the Spurs had and ended a four-game skid to San Antonio.

"We just did a good job of executing tonight," said Williams, who made 11 of 19 shots. "We stayed within our offense. We got good shots and we got stops when we needed them."

Utah was up by 10 at halftime and only let the Spurs get as close as eight before pulling away and protecting the big lead this time.

Boozer was shooting just 35 percent entering the game and was booed when he missed his first shot early in the first quarter, but quickly won back the fans with a couple of hustle plays. Boozer tied up Duncan and forced two jump balls in the first quarter, then carried Utah with his offense.

Boozer also had two steals, both times swatting the ball away from Duncan in the lane and had three assists and two blocks.

"They got the momentum going early on and got rewarded for their physical play," Duncan said. "We knew it would be that kind of game."

The Jazz led 93-80 after three and survived a brief lull before pulling away again.

Duncan got San Antonio back to 97-86 on a putback, but Paul Millsap answered with a layup and Boozer hit a shot to put Utah back up 103-88. After Michael Finley went 1 for 2 from the line for the Spurs, Boozer stripped the ball from Duncan to start a fast break, which Matthews ended with a layup to put the Jazz up by 16.

NOTES: The Spurs hadn't played since beating Sacramento 113-94 on Saturday. ... The Jazz outrebounded the Spurs 41-36. ... The Jazz hadn't beaten the Spurs since winning 90-64 on April 4, 2008, in Salt Lake City. ... Matthews' previous career high was eight points. ... The Jazz hadn't scored 100 or more points in a win over the Spurs since February 1999.