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Okur, Jazz crush Hawks for fifth consecutive win

Feb 13, 2007 - 6:23 AM SALT LAKE CITY (Ticker) -- Thanks to Mehmet Okur, the Atlanta Hawks will have to wait until next season to end a long drought.

Okur scored 19 points as the Utah Jazz won their fifth straight game with a 102-76 triumph over the Hawks, who had a five-game road winning streak snapped.

Utah has won 13 straight meetings here against Atlanta, with its last home loss in the series coming on February 13, 1993.

Okur, who remains an All-Star injury replacement possibility with Suns guard Steve Nash not playing due to a hurt shoulder, is averaging 25.6 points and 8.0 rebounds during this stretch.

"That would be a great honor to me, my family and my country," the Turkish forward said. "If that happened, it would definitely be my dream come true. We'll see what's gonna happen (Wednesday). I'm excited."

With a nine-point lead already in hand after the first quarter, the Jazz used a 12-5 burst before the half to grab a 50-32 advantage at intermission.

"They played (Sunday). And so we just came out there and made them run on the floor," Okur said. "Everybody played unselfish basketball, shared the ball well, played good defense. It was a good win for us."

Jazz guard Deron Williams netted two of his seven points with a dunk at the 7:11 mark in the third quarter, sparking an 11-3 run to make it 67-43.

Williams, who might also be in consideration as Nash's replacement, handed out nine assists and is averaging 19.3 points and 8.6 assists since teammate Carlos Boozer's knee injury.

"I'm definitely hopeful," Williams said. "That'd be a dream and an honor to be on the All-Star team. I'm hoping, but it's out of my control. I'm not gonna sweat it. I'm just going to wait."

Elton Brand of the Los Angeles Clippers and Zach Randolph of the Portland Trail Blazers are also in the running for the All-Star slot.

"I think Memo and Deron are playing better than those guys this season," Utah forward Andrei Kirilenko said. "And you see the results with this team. Our team is in a much better position."

In the fourth quarter, Utah reserve Rafael Araujo was ejected for his flagrant-2 foul on Marvin Williams, who was elbowed in the face on a driving layup with 9:27 remaining.

"It was a weird call. I didn't mean to do anything," Araujo said. "I just went to the help position, tried to cover my man and I got caught, and the referee just thought it was a different way. It's just basketball. I don't think I should have been kicked out of the game."

"He should have been kicked out and he should be suspended," Hawks coach Mike Woodson said. "You take a guy's face off like that, it's unacceptable. You can't do that."

Derek Fisher scored 14 points and rookie Paul Millsap added 13 and nine rebounds off the bench for Utah, which shot 44 percent (32-of-72) from the field.

Williams scored 15 points and Joe Johnson chipped in 14 for the Hawks, who shot 37 percent (27-of-73) and made just 1-of-6 3-pointers.