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Williams, Jazz send Hornets to rare defeat

Nov 25, 2010 - 5:28 AM Salt Lake City, UT (Sports Network) - Deron Williams finished with 26 points, 11 assists and five steals, as the Utah Jazz dealt the New Orleans Hornets only their third loss of the season, 105-87.

Al Jefferson paced the Utah frontcourt with 23 points and 10 rebounds to help the Jazz win their third game in a row. They also beat New Orleans for the eighth time in the last nine meetings after holding the Hornets to 15 fourth- quarter points.

The Jazz were perfect from the foul line, making all 19 of their attempts.

Chris Paul, Williams' point-guard counterpart, finished with 17 points, nine assists and five steals, with only one turnover. But there wasn't much Paul could do about the 17 turnovers the rest of his team committed, which led to 26 Jazz points.

The Hornets didn't lead past the first quarter, but were still close when Jarrett Jack's two free throws made it an 82-77 game about two minutes into the fourth.

But the Jazz began to pull away from there. Jefferson scored on Utah's next two possessions, and Williams drove for a layup with 8:07 left to expand the lead to 11.

Then, approaching the midpoint of the quarter with the Hornets still within single digits, David West grabbed an offensive rebound off Willie Green's missed jumper. But he made a bad pass that Francisco Elson stole, and C.J. Miles sank two free throws at the other end.

The shots started an 11-1 run that turned the game into a blowout. Utah got hot during the stretch, making all four of its shots. Meanwhile, New Orleans missed its only shot -- an Emeka Okafor layup that Miles blocked -- and turned the ball over three times.

Williams ended the rally with a dunk and a three-pointer to put the Jazz up 101-82, and they cruised over the final four minutes.

West scored 10 of his 15 points in the opening quarter, though Utah emerged from it with a 31-30 edge.

The Jazz opened the second quarter with a seven-point burst, then took a 61-51 advantage into the break. Paul scored 10 points in the second quarter, but the rest of the Hornets shot only 2-of-12.

Utah took an 80-64 lead on Paul Millsap's dunk with 3:29 left in the third, but the Hornets scored the final eight points of the period to trim their deficit moving to the fourth.

Game Notes

Utah shot 48.8 percent (40-of-82)...New Orleans made 29 of its 69 shots (42 percent)...The Jazz committed 12 turnovers...Utah had only two second-chance points.