Fine-tuned Jazz at their best

TORONTO — If the look down the stretch Friday appeared familiar, it's only because it was the same Wednesday at Detroit. The same — depends on who's counting — in one or two or three or maybe more games earlier this season. The same — no debate here — as the Jazz flashed late last season, after Deron Williams had emerged from Jerry Sloan's doghouse, Carlos Boozer's bad hamstring was no longer hamstrung and the thoroughbreds were set free.

The look, for those who did not see Utah's 102-94 victory over Toronto on Friday night at Air Canada Centre, was that of the now 26-14 Jazz at their strongest.

It was Williams running the point with authority, dishing eight assists with his 16 points, and it was four forwards filling the part of two forwards, a shooting guard and a center.

It was so-called center Mehmet Okur firing away from long distance and hitting 9-of-19 from the field for a team-high 23 points, and it was power forward Carlos Boozer piling up the points and rebounds yet again, this time scoring 23 and pulling down a season-high-matching 19 boards for his 30th double-double in 40 games.

It was Matt Harpring doing the dirty work at small forward, and it was Andrei Kirilenko masquerading as a shooting guard and doing what he does best, like the steal he made of an errant Morris Peterson pass that ignited a fastbreak finished with a driving dunk from Harpring to put Utah up 100-92 with 51.5 seconds remaining and squash any notion the 19-22, hot-of-late Raptors had of nabbing one away from the Jazz.

It was also each of the Jazz's starters, including veteran shooting guard Derek Fisher, logging 31-plus minutes, and Harpring offering another 21 off the bench but playing 10-plus in the final quarter.

It was, in other words, what those in an upbeat visitor's locker room are hoping is precisely what the Jazz look like come late April.

"It think it's good," Boozer said of the late-game lineup featuring Williams and the favored foursome, "because that's what it's gonna be like in the playoffs.

"Me and Fish (veteran guard Derek Fisher) actually just talked about that the other day: Tightening the rotation up, and getting guys that are going to playing those big minutes — let us win with the guys that's out there. That's how the playoffs are gonna be. That's how other teams do it as well — they keep their best players out there most of the time, and that's usually why they're successful."