From Deseret News archives:

Jazz push win streak to 4 games

By Tim Buckley

Deseret News

Published: Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2007 12:32 a.m. MST

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"That could be a little of it," Williams said.

"We have a tendency to think 'perimeter' first at times," Sloan added. "I think everybody says, 'Well, I've got to get myself going.' I've got a lot of offensive-thinkers."

Jazz players do not deny that.

"Sometimes we don't realize that we're supposed to play one way," Kirilenko said. "We start trying something different, and it doesn't work. Then we kind of find our game and start going."

"It's been a problem for us all year," Williams added. "We tend to settle for jumpers every now and then on and off throughout the game. But once we start executing, start getting easy baskets, things open up for us."

So maybe someone really is listening.

In this instance, the Jazz's big three — and make no mistake who comprises that trio — eventually seemed to get in tune.

"They are our main scorers, they are main guys on our team," Kirilenko, who finished with just seven points but shot 3-of-5, said of Okur, Boozer and Williams. "So, if they get going we get going."

And, oh, did they ever get going, even if it did take some time.

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Boozer scored 10 of his 18 on 5-of-5 shooting in the fourth quarter, though Garnett was astute to say, "He has a lot of good key guys around him."

One, certainly, is Williams, who had no trouble explaining how he was ready to pile so many points and assists.

"I just try to take what the defense gives me," he said after scoring a fair share of his 21 off moves to the basket. "They were giving me lanes to the basket, so I was taking those. Then they started cutting that off, but my guys were cutting for me and making shots, so I started racking up assists."

Another is Okur, who continues to score in droves.

"He's playing great for us of late, hitting shots, going to the basket, drawing the fouls," Williams said. "It definitely opens things up everybody else when he's hitting on all cylinders."

When he and the rest do, the Jazz really roll — even after cranking up in the chilliest of fashions.

E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com