• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Jones' game-winning shot lifts Grizzlies past Jazz in OT

Jan 25, 2007 - 6:50 AM SALT LAKE CITY (Ticker) -- Eddie Jones told Mehmet Okur anything you can do, I can do better.

Jones hit the game-winning shot as time expired to lift the Memphis Grizzlies to a thrilling 132-130 overtime triumph over the Utah Jazz, who had their four-game winning streak stopped.

In overtime, Okur's deep shot from the arc brought the Jazz within 128-127 with 15 seconds remaining. He finished with 27 points and 11 rebounds.

"I thought the shot Okur hit was out of this stratosphere," Grizzlies interim coach Tony Barone said. "It was a long, long, long, long three."

Reserve Chucky Atkins sank two free throws one second later as Memphis rebuilt a three-point bulge.

But Deron Williams fed Okur once again for another 3-pointer from the left wing, tying the game at 130-130 with seven seconds to play.

"I was really upset that I totally didn't see a switch when Okur hit the three to tie the game up," Jones said. "I didn't see it. I was so focused on trying to not give Deron a jump shot, that I didn't see him handing the ball off to Okur."

Jones raced up the court and drained a 22-foot pull-up jumper over Williams to seal the win and end the Grizzlies' four-game losing streak against Utah.

"I knew it was good," said Jones, who scored 19 points. "I just turned around and started running away. I just felt good. I felt good all night long."

"Eddie made the play," Barone said. "Sometimes those go in, and sometimes they don't. We didn't drop anything cute. We got it in, and he got it and hit a big shot."

"As a veteran, this guy's been around the league, he's hit big shots," Atkins said. "You look at his composure when he got the ball and told everybody to calm down, he took it down there and made a big shot."

In regulation, Memphis trailed, 118-115, before Atkins hit a shot from the arc with eight seconds left. Utah had a chance to avoid the extra session, but Williams misfired at the buzzer.

"I thought it was good," Williams said. "Looked good, felt good. But it was off a little bit."

Atkins stepped in and played huge for starter Damon Stoudamire, who was limited to just 6 1/2 minutes with back spasms.

"This is the NBA," Atkins said. "Every situation changes from night to night. Damon had back spasms coming into halftime, I didn't think I was going to play the entire second half, but it happened."

"Damon went down, and Chucky did an excellent job stepping up, really guiding us in the right direction," Memphis forward Pau Gasol said. "He took the challenge, and he had a lot of assists and made a lot of critical shots. That's what we're going to need because we don't have a deep team that we can rely on."

Gasol had a triple-double with 17 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists and Atkins scored 29 points for the Grizzlies, who shot 51 percent (45-of-87) from the field and made 16 3-pointers.

"I think Pau did extremely well," Atkins said. "Pau did what he's supposed to do; he's the franchise player of this team. We rode him."

Carlos Boozer had a career-high 39 points and 15 rebounds and Williams handed out a career-best 21 assists for Utah, which shot 55 percent (54-of-98).

"It's great to get that career high in assists," Williams said. "But at the same time it's bittersweet because we didn't get the win. That's all I care about winning."

Boozer connected on 18-of-24 shots, but had to watch the rest of the game from the bench after fouling out on the first offensive possession in OT.

"He (Boozer) played great for us all game," Williams said. "It was a shame he had to foul out, especially the way he did. We definitely could have used him in the overtime."