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Jazz beat Mavericks, end five-game slide

Apr 14, 2007 - 6:25 AM DALLAS (Ticker) -- All-Star Carlos Boozer made sure the Utah Jazz ended their slide.

Boozer collected 32 points and 15 rebounds as the Jazz snapped a season-high five-game skid with a 104-89 victory over the league-leading Dallas Mavericks.

Deron Williams had 17 points and nine assists and Derek Fisher scored 15 for the Jazz (49-30), who pulled within one game of the Houston Rockets (50-29) for home-court advantage in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs.

"We're going through a tough time right now," Williams said. "We're trying to get home-court advantage. We're still playing for a lot right now. It doesn't seem like that when we go out on the court night in and night out."

With the Northwest Division already wrapped up, the Jazz have three games remaining this season, including a matchup with Houston on the final day of the regular season.

"We're going to use this momentum for the last three games and focus on each team," Boozer said. "We're not going to worry about Houston. We'll worry about ourselves and maybe we'll catch them."

Kevin Willis - the league's oldest player - brought the Mavericks within 74-72 with a jumper with 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter. He finished with six points, his first since the 2004-05 campaign.

However, the Jazz pulled away for good when Williams' 3-pointer sparked an impressive 18-2 surge to forge a 92-74 lead at the 4:36 mark.

It was the loss in the series here since December 20, 2002 for the Mavs, who may have been more focused on Sunday's matchup with intrastate rival San Antonio.

"I think it was more our focus," Dallas coach Avery Johnson said. "We kind of walked through the game sleep-walked. They (Utah) were just much more energized and they played like they had to have the game."

In limited action, superstar Dirk Nowitzki scored 23 points and Josh Howard added 12 for Dallas, which shot 44 percent (33-of-74) from the field.

Dallas trailed by 11 at the start of the third quarter before Nowitzki made his presence known, scoring 10 points during a 16-7 burst to cut the deficit to 54-52 with 7:18 left in the third.