Utah Jazz: Team gets big win after bad loss

They were playing an above-.500, playoff-bound opponent. They were at home. And they were not playing Minnesota in Minneapolis.

Once the Jazz realized all that Monday night, nothing was about to stop them.

Certainly not weary Washington, which was on the tail end a five-game Western road trip and had lost the night before in overtime to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Utah rolled as a result, shaking off the shock of Sunday's loss to the Timberwolves — their second defeat in as many trips to Minnesota this season — for a 129-87 victory over the Wizards at sold-out EnergySolutions Arena.

"You know," coach Jerry Sloan said after his Northwest Division-leading club improved to 49-26, "you're always worried about how they're gonna react, how they're gonna sit around and mumble and grumble about what happened (the previous game).

"But they forgot about it," Sloan added, "and came out and played."

Did they ever, paced by reserve swingman C.J. Miles' career-high 29 points, which included 4-of-6 shooting from 3-point range.

The Jazz reached some milestones and threatened several others, not the least of which was a franchise-record 15 made 3-pointers — breaking the old mark of 14 set earlier this season against New Orleans.

En route to pushing its NBA-best home record to 33-4, Utah also:

• Won by its biggest margin since 2002, tying for fourth-largest in franchise history and finishing just six shy of the franchise record of 48 vs. Milwaukee in 1990;

• Beat a team by 40-plus for just the eight time in franchise history;

• Set a franchise record for 3-pointers made in a half, hitting nine in the first to surpass the old mark of eight, which was reached three times earlier this season;

• Tied the franchise record for 3-pointers made in a quarter with seven in the second;

• Led in the fourth quarter by a season-high 47 points, 10 more than its previous high vs. Denver earlier this month;

• Dished a season-high 40 assists, two better than the previous best, including a game-high 16 from point guard Deron Williams.

"This is a big victory for us after a bad loss," Williams said.