• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Jazz's frontcourt dominates Suns in win

Nov 4, 2006 - 5:04 AM PHOENIX (Ticker) -- The Utah Jazz's starting frontcourt overpowered the Phoenix Suns in the post.

Carlos Boozer, Andrei Kirilenko and Mehmet Okur all registered double-doubles to help the Jazz escape with a 108-104 triumph over the Suns.

Boozer collected 21 points and 12 rebounds, Kirilenko added 17 and 14 and Okur chipped in 13 and 11. The trio combined to outrebound Phoenix, 37-32.

Matt Harpring's three-point play helped Utah take a 104-103 advantage before Kurt Thomas split a pair of free throws to tie the game with 57 seconds remaining.

"Sometime there is a mismatch," Harpring said. "You have Steve Nash or someone switching on me, so sometimes we post up and are able to use our size to our advantage."

"We went to Matt about three or four times in a row and either got an and-one or scored or both," Boozer said. "I don't know what we shot from the line but we made a lot of them. We didn't moss too many free throws. Coach (Jerry Sloan) said at halftime we had too many turnovers and we got the message. To win, we had to take better care of the ball and in the second half we did a better job of it."

On the next possession, Boozer scored on a monster two-handed dunk. Leandro Barbosa had a chance to tie the contest but missed an easy layup for the Suns.

"I don't know what happened on that layup. I think I gave it too much spin and nobody likes that ball," Barbosa said. "I'm dealing with it. We have to get used to it. We are going to have to play with that ball and we will be all right.

"I think we lost a little bit of focus and the control of the game. They did well on offense and we didn't do well on defense a couple of times. It was a different game. Utah ran a lot."

Derek Fisher made two foul shots with nine seconds left to seal the victory. Fisher, acquired from Golden State this summer, scored 18 points off the bench.

"Derek picked us up a great deal. He went out and made a couple of plays," Sloan said. "It started to be more positive from there. Then everybody helped out. We have to execute and try to get the ball inside."

Harpring scored 17 points and Deron Williams added 13 for Utah, which shot 46 percent (38-of-81) from the field and survived 21 turnovers, including 12 in the second period.

Barbosa scored 22 points in his first start and Nash contributed 17 and 10 assists for the Suns, who shot 41 percent (32-of-78) and erased an 11-point deficit in the second quarter.

"I think we got into a fog. We are not quite in sync. The bright spot is every game we have played, we have been up 19. We just can't hold it," Suns coach Mike D'Antoni said. "Our defense isn't quite there yet. I don't know if we can't sustain the mental energy for 48 minutes. Our style is going to lead to a lot of swings, but you can tell we are out of sync."