Never-say-die attitude pays off for Jazz in OT

Never say die.

Even a team that doesn't shoot 3-pointers well and doesn't have many healthy players can accomplish a victory with the right kind of mindset.

"Jerry said at the end of the game in the locker room, 'Thats why you just never give up.' And that's so true," said Jazz captain Matt Harpring about coach Jerry Sloan's words following a come-from-behind 109-107 overtime win on a Memo Okur 3-point shot with 0.7 second left Monday night in the Delta Center against the Chicago Bulls.

"We had our chances to give up, and it's a cliche, it's easy to give up and say we lost the game," said Harpring, whose 28 points, two shy of his season high, held the short-handed Jazz in a game they trailed by 11 points in the first half. "But we played to the end That's a nice tribute to our team."

Led by Harpring and Andrei Kirilenko (21 points), both playing shooting guard for stretches because Deron Williams sprained an ankle in pregame warm-ups, the Jazz came back to lead by as many as six and then were tied and went to overtime, where they trailed by as many as seven before a Kirilenko three started Utah moving in the right direction again.

A Keith McLeod layin cut the Bulls' lead to four with 1:16 left, Ben Gordon (35 points) missed a layin with Okur rebounding and then making two free throws to trim it to 106-104.

Harpring missed a 12-footer, and Bull Luol Deng rebounded, but Devin Brown deflected the ball to Kirilenko, who got it to McLeod.

"Keith get the ball," said Okur, who finished with 15 points. "He was going to try to create a foul or drive the lane. His man couldn't jump, so I was next to him, wide open. He pump-faked, his defender couldn't jump, so he passed to me. I took the shot.

"I saw — actually, I saw rim," said Okur.

And perhaps the key was he didn"t have time to think about it with the shot clock and game clock nearing zeroes.

"I didn't hesitate. I just took the shot. Lucky I hit that," said Okur.

The shot he made to beat San Antonio, the eventual NBA champion, and break their 18-game win streak against the Jazz, was "more exciting," Okur said after thinking about it a bit because that rebound bucket ended the game. With this one, Chicago got a timeout and had 0.7 second left to try and tie or win, but its made shot was taken after the final buzzer.