Recap: Utah vs. Sacramento
Sports Network | November 28, 2008
Salt Lake City, UT (Sports Network) - Mehmet Okur led eight Utah players in double figures with 20 points and 12 rebounds, as the Jazz crushed the Sacramento Kings, 120-94.
Deron Williams finished with 15 assists and 13 points for the Jazz, who have won two in a row and five of seven. Ronnie Brewer and C.J. Miles had 18 points apiece in the win, while Paul Millsap ended with 11 points and 11 boards.
John Salmons scored 20 points to lead the Kings, who have lost five in a row and eight of nine. Spencer Hawes contributed 18 points and six rebounds off the bench in the loss.
Utah held a lead of 29-23 after one quarter and the game was tied, 50-50, at halftime.
But the Jazz opened the third quarter with 13 straight points, of which Okur had seven. He drilled a three-pointer 3 1/2 minutes into the stanza for a 63-50 Utah lead, and the club rattled off six more points in a row a short time later.
"We didn't come out with that same energy in the third," said Salmons. "Missed some shots early and they made a little run and we stopped playing. We didn't match the energy."
Miles capped that run with two free throws for a 78-60 lead with 3:51 remaining. The Jazz went into the fourth quarter leading by a 94-67 margin, and the Kings didn't challenge the rest of the way.
"We got momentum because we got out and got our bodies on them a little more," said Jazz head coach Jerry Sloan. "Got a couple of steals and got in the open court. You've got to learn some of this stuff from somewhere."
Andrei Kirilenko, Kyle Korver and Ronnie Price each scored 12 points off the bench for Utah. The only Jazz players not to reach double figures were Morris Almond, who had two points in 12 minutes; Kosta Koufos, who scored two in almost 4 1/2 minutes; and Kyrylo Fesenko, who did not score in a little more than four minutes of court time...Utah shot 53 percent (44- of-83) as a team, which included a 10-of-17 effort from three-point range. The Jazz, however, only made 22-of-34 foul shots (64.7 percent)...The Kings shot 48.8 percent (40-of-82) overall, but just 5-of-16 (31.3 percent) from beyond the arc.
