Utah Jazz: Memo: Millsap sparks team

Brewer also helps Utah stop boos, NBA's No. 2 team

By Tim Buckley, Deseret News

Published: Thursday, Feb. 28 2008 12:23 a.m. MST

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Utah's Paul Millsap (left) and Ronnie Brewer steal the ball from Detroit's Richard Hamilton during the Jazz 103-95 come-from-behind victory on Wednesday night.

Michael Brandy, Deseret Morning News

Summary

They heard jeers in the second quarter, when after three consecutive turnovers and a Detroit basket the Jazz looked as out of it as they did during Tuesday's 24-turnover loss at lowly Minnesota.

"We all should have been booed, myself included," coach Jerry Sloan said. "Because we weren't getting anything done."

Instead of rolling over again Wednesday night, though, Utah rallied from 18 points down in the first half and 15 down with less than six minutes to go in the third quarter to beat the Pistons 105-98.

It marked the Northwest Division-leading Jazz's sixth straight win over Central Division-leading and Detroit (42-16), which came in on a three-game win streak and with victories in 13 of its previous 15 games.

By the time Utah (37-21) was done winning for the 15th consecutive time at EnergySolutions Arena, oohs and ahs had trumped the catcalls — and a certain backup power forward was drawing comparisons to someone else who had a penchant for prompting fan reaction in the same building.

"Everything in the world went wrong in the first half," Jazz point guard Deron Williams said. "But we kept fighting, and guys stepped up — Paul (Millsap), Memo (Okur), Ronnie (Brewer).

"We definitely need that confidence from Paul," Williams added after Millsap scored 19 points off the bench, including 16 after the break. "Hopefully he can keep that up. You know, I think he felt unstoppable out there for a little bit. Thought he was Jordan, so we kept going to him."

Brewer did his part by helping frustrate Pistons shooting guard Rip Hamilton into a scoreless 0-for-4 third quarter, and was rewarded with five more minutes in a rare fourth-quarter appearance.

"He got up and played guys much better," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said of Brewer, who also scored 13 points. "He was much more active in the defensive end."

Williams agreed.

"Rip was getting hot, and he (Brewer) cooled him off a little bit, and we forced some turnovers," he said. "We were able to get out and run in transition. Got the crowd behind us. The crowd was fantastic. After they booed us in the first half, they were fantastic."

"We kind of let them down in the first half, not playing with enough

energy, not playing up to our capability," Millsap added. "The second half we showed them how we could play."