Utah Jazz: Team finally finds cure for what's been ailing them

SALT LAKE CITY — It was harder to tell who was happier after the Utah Jazz's much-needed 117-94 blowout win over Memphis on Wednesday night.

The Jazz players who've been here during a rough stretch, which included three straight losses and defeats in seven of 11 outings?

Or the NBA's newest player, Sundiata Gaines, who claimed to be living a "dream come true" even before he donned a Jazz jersey for the first time and then gave his new club a bit of a spark?

Whatever the answer, there was certainly a more chipper aura and more smiles on the bench and in the EnergySolutions Arena locker room than the Jazz have had in quite a while.

"It was great to win," Jazz power forward Carlos Boozer said. "We feel like we haven't won in, I mean, I know it's probably been a week but it feels like longer than that, so it's great to get a W."

The Jazz's last win actually came last year — a 107-103 squeaker at Minnesota on Dec. 30, 2009, to be exact.

But, as Boozer indicated, it does seem like almost an eternity ago considering some of the doom and gloom that's surrounded the team after recent ugly losses dropped Utah out of a playoff position.

The lopsided victory might have been surprising to some.

For one thing, Memphis (17-17) had won four in a row.

An even bigger reason, though, was that the Jazz didn't have the services of starting point guard Deron Williams, who couldn't play because of a sprained and bruised right wrist.

On this night, at least, they didn't need their star.

The rest of the now 19-16 Jazz filled in quite nicely — from a season-high 24 points by C.J. Miles, a 20-point outing by Carlos Boozer, nice nights from bench players Andrei Kirilenko (12 points, six rebounds) and Wesley Matthews (15 points), right down to solid and surprising performances from fill-in point guards Ronnie Price (14 points, six assists), Ronnie Brewer (career-high 10 assists) and Gaines (five assists, three points).

Even without Williams, the Jazz dished out a season-high 39 assists.

"Man, so many nights recently we've walked off the court with a bad taste in our mouth and our fans booing, that's never good," Brewer said. "And to get a win like this against a team that's been playing really well ...

"It was good for us to go out there and play well," he added, "especially when we're shorthanded."

Jazz coach Jerry Sloan was especially pleased with how his team shared the ball, which helped turn a tied game after the first quarter into a blowout by halftime.

"They (the Grizzlies) had a tough game last night, so they were probably a little bit tired," Sloan said. "But you take whatever you can when you lose three in a row to try and get the bleeding to stop."