New resolutions: Jazz hold on down the stretch as Korver plagues his former team

Like all big games this time of year should, it came down to the fourth quarter.

But this was no ordinary early January meeting.

It was the first Gordan Giricek Bowl, presented by Jerry Sloan, and it will forever be remembered as the game Kyle Korver helped seal as the Jazz beat Korver's former Philadelphia 76ers 110-107 Wednesday night at sold-out EnergySolutions Arena.

Power forward Carlos Boozer finished a team-high 22 points for Utah, and point guard Deron Williams had a 15-point, 20-dishing double marking — marking Williams' season high for assists, and just one off his career high.

Center Mehmet Okur pitched in another 20 points, his highest offensive output in a month, as the 18-16 Jazz closed a three-game home-stand by winning a second straight game for the first time in that same one-month span.

Yet is was the Giricek-Korver subplot that had everyone talking afterward, particularly how the presence of 14-point scorer Korver — acquired just last Saturday in a deal that sent longtime Jazz guard Giricek and a protected future first-round draft choice to the 14-18 Sixers — quickly has allowed Utah to wash away the root of its 5-11 December woes.

"We definitely feel like we have more options," Williams said, "and it spreads out the floor for everybody when guys like C.J. (Miles, who chipped in another 12 points) and Kyle are hitting shots for us, and Memo (Okur) is shooting the ball great right now."

"When you have guys that can shoot the ball and score, that frees it up for everybody. They can't double as much on me, it gives DWill (Williams) a lane to drive to the hoop," added Boozer, who because Korver was covered was free to knock down two mid-range jumpers in the final one minute and 13 seconds. "When you don't have the threat — you saw it during that three-week stretch (of futility) that we had — people were just packing it in and daring us to shoot the ball."

While Sloan-whipping boy Giricek spent his four-point night getting booed every time he touched the ball, it was the fourth-quarter shooting of Miles and Korver — from both the field and the free-throw line — that really had EnergySolutions buzzing.

Miles scored 10 of his 12 points on 2-of-2 shooting from 3-point range and 4-of-4 shooting from the line in the final quarter alone, and when he sat down with 2:19 remaining the Jazz had a 101-96 lead.