Utah Jazz: Third-quarter explosion propels Jazz past Kings

A most memorable third quarter more than made up for a pretty ho-hum and very forgettable first half tonight for the Utah Jazz.

How memorable?

In three letters: W-O-W.

The Jazz came out of the locker room at halftime tied with Sacramento and then exploded with an impressive offensive fireworks show. By the time they entered the fourth quarter, the Jazz held a 27-point lead and cruised to a 120-94 victory over the Kings at EnergySolutions Arena.

The Jazz have had worse halves, scoring-wise, than the amazing third quarter they put together. Utah scored 44 points on 16-for-19 shooting, had six steals, made 10-of-13 free throws, dished out 10 assists and held the Kings to just 17 points.

C.J. Miles led the Jazz in the quarter with 16 points — six above his season scoring average — while Ronnie Brewer (nine points) and Mehmet Okur (eight points) also had a huge quarter.

Must have been some halftime speech by coach Jerry Sloan, whose team scored the first 13 points of the third period.

Besides leading to a victory and an 11-6 record, that huge outbreak allowed Deron Williams to sit out the fourth quarter. That could lead to him playing again Saturday night in the Jazz's home game against the New Jersey Nets.

In his second game back from a preseason ankle injury, Williams eclipsed his season-high for scoring in the opening half for Utah. He scored 12 points with two 3-pointers and dished out six assists.

That outburst was the most prolific offensive quarter for the Jazz since they exploded for 46 points in the second quarter against the Kings on Jan. 29, 1992.

The Jazz's record for scoring in one quarter is 50 points, which they accomplished against Denver in 1982.

The 44 points, by the way, is the most by any NBA team in a quarter this season.

Okur ended up leading the Jazz with 20 points and 12 rebounds, Miles and Brewer each had 18 points, and five other Utah players hit double figures.

John Salmons helped the Kings exchange blows with the Jazz in the first half, scoring 18 of his team-high 20 points before halftime. He had back-to-back inside hoops in the final minute of the second quarter to help Sacramento pull even at 50-50.

Okur also had a dozen points in the opening half.

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E-mail: jody@desnews.com

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