Utah Jazz: Kings halt Utah's road win streak at 7

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Sacramento Kings might be one of the worst teams in the NBA.

But on Friday night they did what San Antonio, Portland, Houston and New Orleans — not to mention the Los Angeles Clippers and Golden State — couldn't do the past month and a half.

Sacramento, the team with the fifth-worst record in the NBA and losers of five straight games, actually beat the Utah Jazz on its own home court.

Sparked by a season-high 25 points from Beno Udrih and a strong 24-point outing by rookie-of-the-year candidate Tyreke Evans, the Kings edged the Jazz for the second time in three tries this season by pulling away from Utah in the last two minutes for a 103-99 win.

Turns out, seven was enough for this Jazz road winning streak. The loss at Arco Arena marked the first time Utah has lost away from EnergySolutions Arena since the Jazz dropped a 119-112 decision at Denver on Jan. 17.

"Yeah, It's disappointing," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said of the seven-game road win streak coming to an end. "But that's what basketball is all about — see how you bounce back, see what kind of toughness we have to get ready to try to finish up the season.

"We've got a lot of basketball left to play and a lot of tough games to play," Sloan added, "and hopefully we will respond to the pressure we have on us."

The Jazz will have to respond much better tonight when they host the Houston Rockets than they did against the 19-39 Kings.

Sacramento outscored the Jazz 6-2 in the final two minutes after the score was tied 97-all. The Kings also shot 54.5 percent compared to a paltry 40.9 percent from the field for Utah, which missed 16 of 21 3-pointers.

Sacramento, which beat the Jazz in November in Utah, might have blown the Jazz away had it not struggled from the free-throw line (16-for-28).

It certainly wasn't the type of road effort the Jazz have put forth since going on this spurt.

"We just had a rough game," Jazz point guard Deron Williams said, "and we get to play (tonight). That's the beautiful thing about the NBA."

Utah, which had won 18 of 21 games coming into Friday's contest, hosts Houston tonight in the tail end of a back-to-back set.

"You've gotta have a short memory," said Jazz power forward Carlos Boozer, who had another big game with 26 points and 10 rebounds. "(Friday was) one of them nights for us. We've got to remember this game, let it hurt a little bit, let it soak in and let our frustrations out (tonight) against Houston."