Utah Jazz: Strong third quarter powers team past Celtics

SALT LAKE CITY — Maybe it was the Pixy Stix, Sno Caps and Smarties at halftime.

Actually, those were in the pressroom.

In any event, whatever it was that got the Jazz going at the start of Monday night's second half sure did do the trick.

Utah beat Boston 110-97 behind swingman C.J. Miles' game-high 23 points and point guard Deron Williams' 22-point, 11-assist double-double at sold-out EnergySolutions Arena, using a 33-19 third quarter to rally from five down at the break and end the Celtics' four-game win streak.

All five starters scored in double figures for the Jazz, who also got 14 points and a game-high 15 rebounds from center Mehmet Okur, including 11 points and seven boards in the decisive third.

"It was a great game, a grind-out game," said power forward Carlos Boozer, who added 19 points, including 11 during a fourth quarter in which Boston could not trim Utah's nine-point lead heading into the period to any fewer than seven.

"That's what the playoffs will be like, where every possession matters," added Boozer, who because of foul trouble played just 10 minutes in the first half. "It's fun to play games like that because that's what's ahead of us."

With just 11 regular-season games remaining now it was the fourth win in their last five outings and seventh straight at home for the 46-25 Jazz, who — combined with Dallas' loss Monday at New Orleans — moved to within a half-game of the third-place Mavericks in the NBA's Western Conference standings and to within a game-and-a-half of the second-place and Northwest Division-leading Denver Nuggets.

"This was a great win for our team," said coach Jerry Sloan, whose Jazz open a three-game trip Wednesday night at Toronto. "I thought everybody on our team played hard, and they played like a team should play.

"We had a little trouble in the second half," he added, "but right at the end of the first half we got back in the ballgame and gave ourselves a little bit of life, and it carried on for the rest of the game."

Down by 12 points with one minute and 43 seconds left before halftime, Utah — playing without starting small forward Andrei Kirilenko for the fifth time in six games because of his strained left calf — used a 7-0 close to the second quarter to head into the break down 54-49.