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Williams powers Jazz past Warriors

Feb 20, 2008 - 5:32 AM By Chris Bellamy PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

SALT LAKE CITY (Ticker) -- The Golden State Warriors continue to bring out the best in the Utah Jazz.

Deron Williams and the Jazz kept their hot streak alive, putting together one of their most explosive offensive showings of the season in a 119-109 triumph over the visiting Warriors on Tuesday night.

Williams scored 29 points and handed out 12 assists for a Jazz offense that looked seemingly unstoppable for the bulk of the night, shooting 54 percent (45-of-83) from the floor as the club won for the 13th time in 14 games.

"This is not normally the type of basketball we like to play, but we'll take a win any way we can get it," Williams said. "It's good to just get that first win after the break. You never know how things are gonna go. I was just happy as long as we got the victory."

The victory closed out the season sweep with the Jazz, and it was very reminiscent of the first two times the two clubs met. The Jazz opened up the season with a 117-96 road victory over the Warriors, and followed that up four days later with what remains their highest scoring output of the season in a 133-110 rout in Salt Lake City.

"The only good thing about the game tonight is that this is the last time we have to play in Utah," Warriors coach Don Nelson said. "They've had their way with us, really, from the playoffs on. They basically own us, and this is as close as we've come."

The Warriors, who lead the NBA in scoring but also give up a league-high 107.5 points per contest, had enough offensive firepower to keep pace early on in what looked like an up-for-grabs shootout.

But the Jazz always seemed to have more. After playing to a 36-36 draw after one quarter, Kyle Korver came off the bench in the second and knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers as Utah began to take control.

In the last 80 seconds of the first half, the Jazz pushed their advantage into double digits, as Williams and Korver both connected from 3-point range, and took a 77-64 lead into the break.

"We were able to have a little momentum going into halftime," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said. "We kind of picked it up (and) the guys off the bench gave us a nice lift. When they came in Korver, (Matt) Harpring, (Paul) Millsap I thought they gave us a nice lift to get us a bit more energy [than] we had to start with."

When the two high-powered clubs got back from the locker rooms, it was more of the same for both - lots of offense for the Warriors and even more for the Jazz.

Stephen Jackson tried to kick-start Golden State's chances right off the bat, but his 3-point attempt was off target and the Jazz answered with some long-range tactics of their own.

Within a minute, Andrei Kirilenko knocked down a pair of 3-pointers on nearly identical plays. Williams came off a screen on the left wing and Golden State collapsed on the third-year point guard, who then found a wide-open Kirilenko on the other side of the floor.

Both times, it worked to perfection and before the Warriors knew it, the Jazz had opened a 19-point advantage.

That lead ballooned to as high as 25 before the Jazz finally showed signs of mortality and shots stopped falling automatically. But by that point, it was already far too late for the Warriors.

"We played a first half that I thought was an excellent ballgame," Sloan said. "The second half it looked like we thought we had the game won. They're such a tough team to play against because they run a lot of different guys at you and they keeping bringing the ball to you."

Carlos Boozer registered another double-double with 16 points and 12 boards, while Mehmet Okur had one of his own with 16 and 10. Kirilenko added 18 points on 7-of-8 shooting to help the Jazz to their 13th consecutive home victory.

Al Harrington led the Warriors with 21 points. Baron Davis added 17 - 15 of which came in the first quarter. From then on, Davis attempted just four shots.