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Millsap helps Utah squeak past Bobcats

Feb 1, 2011 - 5:31 AM Salt Lake City, UT (Sports Network) - Paul Millsap made two key free throws with 40.5 seconds left, helping the Utah Jazz hold off the Charlotte Bobcats, 83-78.

Millsap ended with 14 points and 12 rebounds for the Jazz, who had lost seven of eight coming in. Al Jefferson chipped in with 21 points and 11 boards.

C.J. Miles donated 20 points for Utah, which got 13 points and 11 rebounds from Andrei Kirilenko.

"Well, I thought our guys played hard," Utah head coach Jerry Sloan said. "We played hard, after the game we had last night, it really felt good to watch them play a little harder than what we did. And when you play hard, you always have a chance to win. We made some mistakes, but I can live with that when you're trying to play hard, trying to do some things worthwhile."

Utah played its third straight game without star point guard Deron Williams (hyperextended right wrist). The Jazz were also without center Mehmet Okur (back) for a second straight contest.

The Jazz revealed after the game that Millsap dislocated his left fifth finger. Kirilenko sprained his left ankle. X-rays came back negative for both players.

Stephen Jackson finished with 24 points and eight rebounds for the Bobcats, who fell to 3-2 on a six-game road trip. D.J. Augustin tallied 20 points, eight boards and seven assists.

The Jazz held a 24-18 edge after 12 minutes of action, but the Bobcats cut the gap to 43-41 at the half.

Utah scored the first 11 points of the second half to take a 54-41 margin on Jefferson's jumper with under 8 1/2 minutes to go.

Charlotte ripped off nine straight points near the midway mark of the third to cut the gap to 56-54 with four minutes left. Boris Diaw made a three-pointer with 31 seconds remaining to make it 62-62 heading to the fourth.

Utah scored the first 10 points of the fourth to build a 72-62 margin on Miles' jumper with 9:15 to play.

The Bobcats, though, chipped away at their deficit and got within one, 79-78, on a pair of Jackson free throws with two minutes to go.

Millsap made two shots from the charity stripe with 40.5 ticks left to give Utah an 81-78 edge. After Gerald Wallace missed a three-pointer from the corner, Raja Bell made two free throws to make it an 83-78 game with 28.2 seconds remaining.

Augustin and Wallace each missed three-pointers in the final seconds.

"Not being ready to play. We gotta come out and be ready to play," Jackson said. "This team was without its All-Star and this is a game we should have had but we didn't come with the effort. We didn't come with the focus and when you're going against a team that's without their star and that's been struggling, that's the most dangerous teams and you gotta have more energy than them."

Game Notes

The Jazz have won five in a row against the Bobcats...Bell had eight points for Utah, which made 44.7 percent of its shots...Wallace tallied seven points and six rebounds for Charlotte, which shot 35.6 percent from the field.