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Carney's heroics propels T-Wolves past Jazz

Apr 4, 2009 - 4:40 AM SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Rodney Carney scored 10 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter, including a tiebreaking 3-pointer with a minute left and the Minnesota Timberwolves held off Utah, 103-102, on Friday night to snap a nine-game road skid and end the Jazz's home winning streak at 15.

Deron Williams missed a shot at the buzzer that would have won it for Utah, which lost its third straight overall. The home loss was a huge blow to the Jazz's diminishing hopes for home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

Williams thought he was fouled on the final shot and shouted at the officials as they left the floor before he finally went to the locker room. He finished with 34 points and 11 assists.

Ryan Gomes also scored 25, and Mike Miller had 14 points and nine rebounds for Minnesota, which outrebounded Utah 42-28.

Kyle Korver added 19 points for Utah, and Andrei Kirilenko scored 13, going 6-for-7 from the floor and blocking three shots.

Phil Johnson coached the Jazz with Jerry Sloan in Illinois for his brother's funeral.

Minnesota hadn't beaten Utah this season, but rallied from a 15-point deficit for its 22nd win of the season - just the 11th on the road.

Utah had lost Northwest Division games at Portland and Denver this week, falling to seventh place in the west and in danger of slipping to eighth and drawing the top-seeded Lakers in the first round of the playoffs.

The Jazz are on the road next starting Sunday at New Orleans, followed by games at Dallas and San Antonio - where they haven't won in more than 10 years - Utah needs to win at home.

The Jazz are only 14-23 on the road.

The Jazz had blown double-digit leads in the second half of their last two home games and needed to rally to win both. Utah continued living dangerously Friday, when Minnesota came back from 15-points behind and this time the Jazz couldn't come from behind.

Carney hit a 3-pointer with a minute left that put the Wolves ahead 101-98, then after a tip-in by Paul Millsap got the Jazz back within a point, Miller connected from 22 feet to stretch the lead back to three.

Williams quickly drove for a layup with 27 seconds left to cut it to 103-102 and the Jazz chose not to foul on Minnesota's next possession, forcing Gomes to take a 25-foot shot that bounced off the rim. Kirilenko got the rebound and called time out with 2.3 seconds to go.

Minnesota called a timeout after the Jazz lined up for the inbounds pass and reset the defense. Williams came off a screen and got a good look at the basket from about 16 feet, but he was way off and the buzzer sounded.

Williams had been saving the Jazz most of the night, drawing a foul from Sebastian Telfair at the top of the key for a four-point play in the third quarter. Williams went right through Telfair's meek foul and took a 3-pointer off of one foot as he flew toward the basket. The ball banked in and Williams added a free throw to give the Jazz a 77-72 lead.