Jazz outrun Milwaukee

It was the Jazz who were playing their seventh outing in a second straight stretch of four games in five nights. It was the Jazz who were opening their fourth consecutive back-to-back set. It was the Jazz who have played just three home games in 16 days.

Yet it was the Milwaukee Bucks who looked low on gas and out of sorts as Utah rolled to a 100-80 win Monday night at the Delta Center, snapping a five-game losing streak on the strength of guard Gordan Giricek's strong two-way play and Deron Williams' double-double effort.

Giricek finished with 18 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the field and exhibited impressive defense on Milwaukee sharpshooter Michael Redd, who scored a game-high 25 points but still wound up a smidgen shy of the 25.4 points-per-game average he brought into the night.

Williams had 10 points and 10 assists, marking his second straight double-digit assists game.

Two other starters for the 5-7 Jazz, Mehmet Okur and Matt Harpring, scored in double figures, with 16 and 12 points respectively, and starting center Greg Ostertag pulled down 10 rebounds.

But it was the play of the Jazz's subs that had coach Jerry Sloan particularly giddy.

Devin Brown scored a bench-high 12 points, Kris Humphries had 10 boards of his own and Jarron Collins had nine points that included 5-of-6 shooting from the free-throw line.

"We had a lot of people play well (to) try to win this game," Sloan said. "Our second group came in the first part of the ballgame and gave us a tremendous lift.

"They (the Jazz) had a lot of energy," added Sloan, whose club visits Seattle tonight, "and it seemed like Milwaukee didn't look like they had as much energy tonight."

In this instance, looks were not deceiving.

"They're probably ready to get back home," Ostertag said, "(but) don't take credit away from us. We played hard."

The 5-4 Bucks, at the tail end of a four-game road trip that opened with a visit last Tuesday to the Los Angeles Clippers, did stick with the Jazz for a quarter.

But it was during a 34-18 second period in which Utah gained separation, pulling ahead to stay with snappy 7-0 run featuring a Giricek running jumper, one Humphries free throw and two layups by reserve guard Milt Palacio.

"They (the Jazz) got momentum in the first half, and we didn't do a good job of stemming the tide defensively in the second half," said Milwaukee coach Terry Stotts, whose Bucks went into the break down 15 at 54-39.

The Jazz led by 14 or more throughout the fourth.

"Utah is still a good team," Stotts added. "The two games they lost previously to Memphis (on Saturday) and Phoenix (on Friday) — they were in both those games, and they played hard. They played physical (Monday), and we didn't match it."