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Martin, Kings snap Jazz's winning streak

Feb 9, 2008 - 7:15 AM SACRAMENTO, California (Ticker) -- The Sacramento Kings quickly put one of their worst performances of the season in the rear-view mirror.

Kevin Martin scored 27 points as the Kings pulled away in the fourth quarter to end the Utah Jazz's 10-game winning streak, 117-104, at Arco Arena on Friday night.

Ron Artest added 22 points and eight rebounds and Quincy Douby came off the bench to score all of his season-high 15 points in the second half for the Kings, who finished their homestand at 4-1.

The lone loss during that span came against the lowly Seattle SuperSonics, 105-92, on Wednesday night.

"Guys came out focused and ready to play tonight," Kings coach Reggie Theus said. "Everybody did their job tonight. It's just a great team win. From the defensive end, in the fourth quarter, we played about as good a defense as I've seen in a while."

"That was a big win for us," Artest said. "We needed that one. (Utah) is a good team - 32 wins - and they had won 10 in a row. I knew once Kevin got back going we had a chance to win. He's our best player. He had a bad night (Wednesday). We're not going to have a chance of winning on a night like that."

Martin was scoreless in the first half Wednesday and finished with just five points, ending a streak of 40 games in double figures. But he ended all thoughts of an extended slump with 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting in the first quarter against the Jazz.

"(Martin) came back with a vengeance," said Kings guard John Salmons, who scored nine of his 13 points in the pivotal fourth quarter. "He had a great start. We all know he's capable of that every night. That's just what he does."

But leading by two midway through the fourth in this one, Sacramento quickly extended the advantage to 10. Salmons scored on a drive and Douby nailed back-to-back 3-pointers to make it 109-99 with 5:10 left.

The Kings weren't through yet. Artest hit a 21-foot jumper with 2:45 left that sealed it, giving the Kings their largest lead at 117-100.

Douby, playing extended minutes after Francisco Garcia was sidelined with a back injury late in the first half, hit 4-of-6 shots - including three from the arc - in 15 minutes.

"I just thought there was an opportunity for me to play with Francisco hurt," Douby said. "(Coach) always says when I have a shot, take it and shoot it with confidence. I just knocked them down tonight. I was real confident out there and just played free."

"I've been giving (Douby) a hard time that I had a better 3-point percentage than him," said Kings forward Brad Miller, who had 15 points and eight boards in his return after missing Wednesday's game with a lacerated finger that required nine stitches. "He might have caught up (after tonight). Coach stuck with the hot hand and we were able to pull away."

The Jazz had no answers on either end of the floor in the fourth, scoring just 17 points on 33 percent shooting while giving up 29 points to Sacramento.

"We started off the game pretty poorly and finished pretty poorly," Jazz point guard Deron Williams said. "I had a couple of careless turnovers, we just really didn't execute, and couldn't stop them. In the fourth, we had a big meltdown, and it cost us the game. Things didn't go right for us for the first time in a while."

Utah was shooting for its longest winning streak since April, 1999, and looked to be wrestling control of the game after halftime.

After trailing most of the game, Utah forged ahead in the third quarter. Andrei Kirilenko's 3-pointer pushed Utah to an 83-78 advantage with just over three minutes left in the third.

However, Sacramento scored eight of 10 points during one stretch to take an 88-87 lead into the pivotal fourth quarter.

Ron Artest converted a three-point play following a thunderous dunk, and Miller followed with two free throws to extend the lead to 56-43 with 3 1/2 minutes left in the second.

But former King Ronnie Price hit two 3-pointers to spark a 14-2 run by the Jazz to close the half, and Sacramento led by just one, 58-57, at the break.

Carlos Boozer collected 23 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for Utah, which fell to 11-16 on the road.

"(Sacramento) just came after us," Utah coach Jerry Sloan said. "They did a great job of pushing the ball and executing their offense. We seemed to not be able to handle it in the fourth."