• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Boozer's 18 points help Jazz topple Grizzlies

Mar 2, 2008 - 5:10 AM MEMPHIS, Tennessee (Ticker) -- Carlos Boozer and the Utah Jazz finally put their road struggles behind them.

Boozer scored 18 points and hauled in nine rebounds as the Jazz posted a 113-92 victory over the lowly Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday.

Deron Williams had a double-double with 13 points and 19 assists and Ronnie Brewer scored 16 points on 8-of-10 shooting for Utah, which snapped a three-game road losing streak.

"We played great. We finally figured everything out," Boozer said. "We figured their zone out, and Deron did a great job of getting the ball to everyone. Guys knocked down shots, and we took off from there."

Memphis (14-45), which owns the second-worst record in the Western Conference, has lost eight straight and 14 of 15.

The Jazz, who had just one win in their last five trips away from Energy Solutions Arena, hadn't procured a road victory since beating the Seattle SuperSonics on February 13.

"It was a real good win," Williams said. "Road victories are hard to come by this year."

The win helped Utah bounce back from a sloppy 110-98 defeat at New Orleans on Friday. In that game, the Jazz surrendered 23 points off turnovers and trailed by as many as 27. They also tallied just 17 assists, nine fewer than their season average.

Mehmet Okur and reserve Kyle Korver each scored 17 points and Andrei Kirilenko added 16 for Utah, which also struggled in this game until late in the fourth quarter.

"I was concerned during the game," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said. "We started out struggling like we have been doing the last four or five games. But it was an important game to win. Almost every game we play should have that kind of intensity we showed tonight."

After Darko Milicic hit a pair of foul shots to cut the Grizzlies' deficit to 82-80 with 8:25 to play, the Jazz went on a 16-3 burst capped by a 3-point play by Paul Millsap with 3:41 remaining.

"We had a little slip-up in the fourth and just had to get it back," Williams said. "I thought we did a really good job. We had a timeout to regroup, and then came out and made some big stops."

Okur had eight points in the run for Utah, which shot 57 percent (45-of-79) and made 12-of-13 free throws in the final period to help stretch the lead to double digits.

"We didn't do the little things," Grizzlies coach Marc Iavaroni said. "We don't have a margin for error the way we're configured right now. We have to play perfect. If we don't, we're going to struggle against a team like Utah."

Rudy Gay scored 20 points and Hakim Warrick and Juan Carlos Navarro each scored 17 for Memphis, which shot 46 percent (32-of-70) and lost its third consecutive home game.

"I think they out-toughed us today," said Gay, who hit only 6-of-17 shots before fouling out late in the fourth quarter. "I think we got tough too late. By that time, we were down 10."