Utah Jazz: Okur's spark ignites Jazz to victory

The Utah Jazz were getting dangerously close to laying an Easter egg at home Saturday night, behind by nine at the half to Seattle, the second-worst team by record in the NBA, when center Mehmet Okur came to life after a week of being sick.

He scored 14 of Utah's first 16 points to start the second half, using an array of shots to catch the Jazz into a 68-all tie, and they went on to win 115-101.

As the game came to a close, Okur had 24 points — but he was still short of the rebound he needed to get to his 16th double-double.

Then Sonic Damien Wilkins shot an air ball that fell right into Jazz forward Carlos Boozer's hands.

Boozer quickly flipped the ball to Okur standing next to him like a hot potato.

"With five minutes to go," said Boozer, talking animatedly about his good deed, "he told me he needed one more rebound, so I kept boxing out, but other people was getting the boards.

"And so the last one I saw was going to be an air ball, so I caught it and gave it to him real quick.

"Team player, baby," Boozer shouted.

Actually, Okur could have gotten his 10th board much earlier, but a missed shot that came right to him slipped between his outstretched hands, hit him on the head, bounced past Boozer and was picked up by the Sonics.

"I don't know what happened there. Maybe I was too excited," Okur said. "I was, 'Mine, mine, mine.' And 'doo-doo-duh-duh' (those sounds going with his hand motions as he mimicked juggling the ball)."

But with 16 seconds left, Boozer was kind enough to help out at the end of his own 26-point, 13-rebound night.

"He got my back — and he let me took it," said Utah's big Turk.

And why not? Okur was the man who breathed life into a struggling team.

"He was hot, man," said Boozer. "Memo came out and hit about 12, 14 points in a row, and he got us going in the third quarter, and then the rest of us stepped up and took it from there. Memo gave us a huge spark."

"We didn't have anything going for us in the first half," said point guard Deron Williams. "We regrouped in the second half and got more spark, and Memo started hitting some shots, and we were able to take the lead."

"I think he feels a little bit better now, and came out aggressive, and you like to see that."

Okur has been trying to be aggressive for quite some time instead of standing back waiting to shoot the 3-pointers.

"Yeah, I was second half able to put the ball on the floor and cut to basket," Okur said, sniffing and hoarse after having a stomach virus earlier in the week and losing a few pounds. He said he wasn't going to the big Saturday-night birthday bash with the rest of his teammates, just going home to rest. "Fair enough?" he said.

"After I made my first shot (to open the second half), I felt like, 'OK, it's going to be my turn, I guess, second half,'" Okur said. "After I make one shot, they came at me, and I tried to put the ball on the floor, and I was able to get to the free-throw line.

"It worked pretty well for me. That's what I'm looking for every night. I want to get to the free-throw line or I want to be active or at least easy baskets or dunk, and then step back."

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E-mail: lham@desnews.com