"I mean, you look on the scoreboard and he has 30 points in the (third quarter) — and your attention is going to go to him," Williams said. "And when attention goes to him, then we've got guys out there. Memo (Okur) stepped up and hit a big shot, Fish (Fisher) came alive.

Okur's shot made it 91-88 Jazz, and the second of those two aforementioned jumpers from Fisher — a 3-pointer with 2:16 to go, part of his 21-point night — put Utah ahead 100-93.

The Warriors resorted to fouling at the point, which wound up to be a mistake as the Jazz closed by hitting 12-of-14 from the line — 5-of-6 by Okur, 3-of-4 from Williams, a pair by Fisher and two as well from Andrei Kirilenko.

"(That) helped," forward Harpring said, "because we're a pretty good free-throw shooting team."

What helped most, though, was the domination inside by Boozer, who wound making 13-of-19 from the field and 8-of-11 from the free-throw line.

Boozer allowed the Jazz to stick with the Warriors early, as — even though they trailed for most of the second quarter — they were able to take a one-point lead into halftime by closing with a 9-2 run before the break.

Williams scored Utah's final five points of the half, including a three-point play the old-fashioned way — he threw up a shot from a lane, and hit the free throw that followed — that made it 50-49 heading into the third quarter.

The Warriors did go into the fourth up three at 78-75 after Baron Davis closed the third period by pulling up on Jazz guard Gordan Giricek and hitting a 3-pointer — Golden State's 10th made trey of the game to that point.

But a 3-pointer by Fisher from the left corner put Utah ahead to stay at 89-87, and soon the Jazz's train was leaving the station feeling awfully good about itself.

"That was a big step in our growth process as a team," said Fisher, who owns three NBA title rings from his days with the Los Angeles Lakers.

"It was a big game for us," forward Paul Millsap. "We won on their homecourt. Going back with a 3-1 lead — hopefully we can seal the deal at home."

And if they should, that would really make Williams shudder with a smile.

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E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com