The showiness of it all may not have pleased Sloan, but it did reflect what he knew the Jazz needed.

"We got momentum because we got out and got our bodies on them a little more," said Sloan, who didn't like how the Jazz traded baskets and got pounded inside in the opening half. "Got a couple steals, and got in the open court."

"When we make a run, it starts on the defensive end," Brewer added. "Get stops, get steals, get deflections, and we get fastbreak points, layups, dunks."

By the time the third was done, Utah was up 94-67.

The Jazz — whose previous season-high for points was 117 against Memphis last Wednesday — pushed its lead to as many as 33 early in the fourth, and never led by fewer than 23 after that.

Miles had 16 of his 18 in the third alone, a period in which the Jazz finished six points shy of their 1982 franchise record for points in a quarter.

It also was the highest-scoring quarter in an NBA game this season, and the Jazz's highest-scoring third quarter since a 1976 game against San Antonio.

"We stepped it up on the defensive end and got it together," Williams said. "We just had a lot more energy in that second half, really in that third quarter."

---

E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com