Utah Jazz: Turnovers fuel Jazz's 4th quarter spurt

SALT LAKE CITY — The Dallas Mavericks might have felt like a guy with a bad profile picture on an online dating site on Monday night.

Or somebody with strong, garlicky breath at a dance.

They sure got rejected a lot.

The visitors might have felt like a naive tourist in New York City, too, the way they were getting their pocket picked.

However you frame it, the Mavericks (30-18) certainly couldn't have liked how they were treated by the Utah Jazz (29-18) at EnergySolutions Arena — and especially not in the fourth quarter.

The Jazz totaled seven steals and swatted three shots in the final and decisive period of their 104-92 victory over the Mavericks.

Five different Jazz players had steals in that quarter, including three by Andrei Kirilenko.

And it was Paul Millsap, starting again for the injured Carlos Boozer (strained calf), who did all of the shot rejecting in the fourth. He tied his season-high with four blocks overall to go with his 25 points and nine rebounds.

"It's the will not to lose," Millsap said of his team's strong fourth quarter during which the Jazz outscored Dallas 27-16.

"It's a different attitude than in the past," Millsap added. "Hopefully we can keep it up. Guys were aggressive on the defensive end, getting up and playing guys."

Utah finished with 11 steals and six blocked shots, earning everyone in the arena a free taco from a promotion. The fans can even thank rookie Wesley Matthews on their way Taco Bell. Matthews, who averaged 0.1 blocks before Monday, got on in the action with a career-high two swats.

It all helped the Jazz pick up this big win.

"That's what happens you get energy within yourself," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said, "and get a steal, you get a blocked shot and that picks everybody up."

Kirilenko used a term that cutlery salesmen might dig to describe those game-changing hustle plays, which led to several easy buckets during a decisive 15-4 stretch in the middle of the fourth quarter.

"Those kind of moments when you've got like six-point lead and the game's still shaking, every possession, every rebound, every steal, it's like give you the chance to win the game — it's like a dagger," the Russian forward said.