Jazz remain cool and win

With the way things were going for the Jazz on Friday night, it was no wonder Ron Artest was screaming like a madman.

Carlos Boozer, after all, merely hit his first 13 straight shots from the field en route to a scoring a game-high 33 points. Andrei Kirilenko only scored a season-high 25 points, and tacked on a line of six rebounds, six assists and four blocks. And Deron Williams just wound up with 16 points and 14 rebounds, marking his 21st double-double of the season.

The Jazz really did have things fall wonderfully into place during a 127-113 win over Artest and his Sacramento Kings, allowing them to improve to 25-18 overall and 18-3 at EnergySolutions Arena — where they've now won eight straight games, matching their longest home winning streak of the season.

"Guys stepped up," Williams said.

"The great part about it," said Boozer, who also pulled down 10 boards for his 30th double-double of the season, "was everybody contributed."

The funny part about it, though, was that it was only after Artest started with his over-the-top antics that the Jazz could be sure they wouldn't give one away to the Kings.

It was when Artest tipped in his own miss to pull Sacramento within one at 77-76 with four minutes and 26 seconds to go in the third quarter that the highly emotional Kings standout started with his outlandish yelling.

By the time he was done, a constantly yelping Artest would thump his chest numerous times, snatch the ball from a fan's hand, and finally push and shove his way into two technical fouls, the second of which resulted in his expulsion with 4:34 remaining and the Jazz comfortably up at the time 114-110.

Overlooked amid his wacky antics, though, was the fact the Jazz went on a 9-0 run after his first shouted out loud — giving Utah just the sort of separation it needed against an 18-24 Kings club that back in December used a 43-point fourth quarter to beat the Jazz in Sacramento.

After that run, in fact, the Kings never did get within any closer than seven — the final time with 3:23 remaining, which Williams promptly answered by hitting a 21-foot jumper.

"We just let him (Artest) do that. That's him. That's the kind of player he is," Williams said. "He gets riled up, and starts going a little crazy. But we just keep playing, keep fighting, and got the victory."

"I was proud of my teammates," Boozer said, "for keeping their composure, so we could win the ballgame without falling into the trap of trying to go back at him a little bit."