Boozer, Williams lead Jazz to 92-88 victory in Toronto

TORONTO (AP) — The Utah Jazz aren't worried about winning with style. They know ugly victories are worth just as much as the pretty ones.

Carlos Boozer had 23 points and 14 rebounds, Deron Williams scored 22 points, and the Jazz beat the Toronto Raptors 92-88 on Wednesday night for their fifth straight win.

"We'll take any victory," Boozer said. "It wasn't pretty, but they did a good job defensively and we did a good job defensively. On offense we struggled but we came out with a big victory."

Mehmet Okur scored 13 points and Ronnie Brewer added 12 for the Jazz in a sloppy affair that saw the teams combine for 32 turnovers.

"I don't think we played good tonight but we won the game," Okur said. "On the road, I'll take that."

A 3-pointer by T.J. Ford brought Toronto to 89-88 with 18 seconds remaining. Toronto fouled Williams, who made both free throws and, after Ford's 3-point attempt bounced off the rim, Boozer made a free throw to seal the win.

Ford and Jason Kapono both missed 3-pointers for Toronto in the final 6.9 seconds.

Utah (7-2) won despite failing to top 100 points for just the second time this season. The Jazz entered play Wednesday as the league's highest-scoring team, averaging 111.9 points.

The Jazz came in shooting 50 percent as a team, but were held to 43 percent by the Raptors. Like Boozer, Williams credited Toronto's defense for keeping the score low.

"We were just missing shots, we weren't as crisp as we usually are offensively," Williams said. "A lot of it has to do with their defense. They're a solid defensive team. They pressure you, they make you work."

While he doesn't expect the Jazz to consistently score more than 100 points, Boozer said the key is persistence.

"You've just got to keep playing," Boozer said. "You can't go through 82 games in perfect harmony. Some games are going to be difficult and today was definitely difficult. They did a good job of getting to us, we did a good job of getting to them, obviously, and we did enough to win."

Utah's Andrei Kirilenko finished with eight points, nine rebounds, 11 assists and five steals.

"I can't say enough about AK right now," Boozer said. "He's scoring, rebounding, getting assists, getting steals. He's everywhere. Even if he's not scoring, you know he's doing other stuff that helps us win."