Sloan recalled one play in the first quarter against the Seattle zone in which Brewer made a hard cut to the basket, and Kirilenko hit him with a pass from the perimeter, Brewer getting a dunk. Seattle didn't set up in a zone the next time down the floor, Sloan said.

"The first time all year we completed the pass where a guy cut to the basket like he wanted the ball, they threw it to him, we got a layup," Sloan said.

He mentioned how the Jazz often ended up standing around in the past, settling for long jump shots instead of executing plays.

There was some of that early in the first quarter, and there were several missed layups as well as Utah fell behind 25-15.

Then, said Millsap, the crowd's discernible frustration got an assist. "Our intensity turned up a lot," Millsap said. "We didn't want our fans to lose faith in us. People were getting restless out there, so we figured we've got to turn it up, if not for ourselves, for them."

"Once we settled in," said Boozer, "got our bearings about us and started to execute, get rebounds, score, make our free throws — we took off from there.

"We don't have a lot of time to celebrate," Boozer added, "because we've got to get on the road, and we're not the best road team right now, but we're trying to improve in that category. But it feels really good to get off that slide, and now we're looking forward to starting to win some games."

Utah takes off today for its annual pre-Christmas eastern swing, starting Monday in Atlanta, followed by Charlotte Wednesday, Orlando on Friday and Miami on Saturday.

Wingman Matt Harpring, who is from Atlanta, will stay home to have a gastric scoping done on Monday after missing Saturday's game with gastric distress. He is to rejoin the team in Charlotte.

Utah played Saturday without Harpring and Mehmet Okur (strained trapezius), while Seattle was minus Kurt Thomas (sprained right ankle). Millsap played despite a bruised hip that got banged around some more, he said, by a physical Sonic team. Guard Jason Hart was back for Utah after missing a game for his grandfather's funeral.

Seattle doesn't play again until Wednesday at home with New Orleans.

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E-mail: lham@desnews.com