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Grizzlies top Jazz for 8th straight win

Feb 5, 2015 - 5:52 AM Salt Lake City, UT (SportsNetwork.com) - Marc Gasol scored 23 points as the Memphis Grizzlies topped the Utah Jazz, 100-90, on Wednesday.

Memphis tied a franchise record with its eighth straight win.

"We've been defending much better," Grizzlies head coach Dave Joerger said of his team's recent surge. "We've got to play with that sense of urgency to accomplish the goals that we want to get."

Zach Randolph added 18 points and 11 rebounds, Mike Conley scored 17 and Jeff Green contributed 13 points.

The Jazz lost for the fourth time in five games despite getting 21 points from Trey Burke off the bench.

In a battle of tough frontcourts, Utah's Enes Kanter held his own with 16 points and 10 boards. Gordon Hayward chipped in 15 points and Derrick Favors netted 11 in the loss.

Despite trailing by as many as 16, Utah battled and had the game within two possessions with 10 minutes to play on Chris Johnson's 3-pointer. Kosta Koufos responded at the other end with a floater that started a 10-2 run and gave the Grizzlies some breathing room.

Burke's 3-pointer with 5:25 remaining cut the deficit to 89-81, but that is as close as the Jazz would get down the stretch.

"It's always bad when you lose, regardless of how you played or regardless of how anyone played. You want to win the game," " said Burke. "Especially losing two in a row, that kind of hurts. We felt like we had a chance to win last night (in Portland) and then coming in tonight and losing another tough game is tough."

Kanter scored four early points and Hayward's 3 put the Jazz up 7-2 in the opening minutes. Memphis responded with a 7-0 run, and the Jazz would never regain the lead. They tied the game several times in the first period, but the Grizzlies always had an answer.

Randolph hit a buzzer-beating shot from beyond halfcourt to close the first quarter for a 30-23 Grizzlies lead.

Down by 16 with 2:09 to play in the first half, Utah went on a 9-0 run to cut Memphis' lead to 58-51 at the break. Hayward scored the first five points and Elijah Millsap finished it with a layup as time expired.

The Grizzlies opened the second half with a 7-2 spurt to go back up 12, but Utah still did not fade. The Jazz limited Memphis to 30.4 percent shooting in the quarter and trailed 77-71 entering the final period.

Game Notes

Memphis has won 12 of its last 13 games ... Utah fell to 5-7 in the second half of back-to-back sets ... Koufos finished with 10 points and six rebounds against the team that drafted him in 2008 ... The Grizzlies are 28-1 when outshooting their opponent ... Memphis shot 81.8 percent from the foul line while Utah was just 17-of-26.