Utah Jazz sting the Hornets

Paul finished with a team-high 26 points, hitting 10-of-18 from the field while also dishing seven assists.

"I had no energy," said Williams, now 9-2 all-time in head-to-head matchups with Paul. "I was dizzy, trying to chase the blur around."

But the Jazz ultimately were the ones who had the 21-11 Hornets seeing double, as they took the second quarter 29-13 for a 12-point halftime lead, thanks to an 11-2 run in the final three minutes of the half.

Utah used an 11-2 run in the final three minutes of the half to take that double-digit advantage into the break, with Korver laying in a Millsap pass, Millsap hitting a 15-footer, 20-point scorer Mehmet Okur making two free throws, Korver nailing a 3-pointer and Andrei Kirlenko adding two more freebies.

The Jazz quickly pushed that lead to 20 early in the third quarter, and they led by 18 or more throughout the fourth. And when Millsap scored with a Kirilenko feed with just under four minutes to go, Utah had its biggest lead of the game at 33, 109-76.

"I'm so proud of how we played today," Williams said. "We knew they were going to be tired from (beat the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night), and we took advantage of that."

"They had a tough game (Tuesday), and they probably weren't quite as lively as we'll see them the next time we play them," added Sloan, whose club continues a four-game homestand Saturday night vs. Detroit. "But that's part of this business. I can't do anything about that."

He can't, though perhaps it wouldn't hurt if he called DirecTV himself to help that other little business matter.

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E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com