Utah Jazz: No Deron Williams, but plenty of 'D' in win

Jazz-Bobcats boxscore

SALT LAKE CITY — The Jimmer was in the house Monday night.

Fortunately for Utah Jazz fans, who gave BYU's basketball star a rousing ovation, Fredette's presence wasn't the only thing to cheer about on this night at EnergySolutions Arena.

Bouncing back from a rough road loss at Golden State on Sunday, the Jazz played their stingiest defensive game of the season en route to a close-call 83-78 victory over Charlotte.

"We played hard," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said. "After the game we had last night, it really felt good to watch them play a little harder than what we did (Sunday). And when you play hard, you always have a chance to win."

And they did that even without All-Star point guard Deron Williams, who missed his third game in a row with an injured right wrist.

Offensively, the Jazz were carried by center Al Jefferson (21 points, 11 rebounds) and reserve forward C.J. Miles (20 points) while improving to 2-1 in D-Will's absence and to 29-20 on the season.

"With a guy as good as Deron (out), we all have to kind of take a load on ourselves," Jazz guard Raja Bell said. "And I think we've done a good job of that. (Sunday) night was rough, but we're 2-1 right now and we can't wait to get him back."

Utah also got double-doubles from Paul Millsap (14 points, 12 rebounds) and Andrei Kirilenko (13 points, 11 boards).

But defense — not to forget a couple of timely offensive boards by Millsap in the late going — stole the show in this much-needed win. That came as a welcome change, considering the Jazz had given up an average of 105.6 points while losing seven of their last eight games.

The Bobcats' squad, which only scored 34 points combined in the first (18) and fourth (16) quarters, could've used some offensive help from a certain No. 32 in the crowd.

Stephen Jackson went off for 24 points and D.J. Augustin contributed 20 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. But Charlotte (20-27) was held to 35.6 percent shooting and only a dozen assists while becoming Utah's first opponent to not hit the 80-point mark this season.