Jazz move to 11-1 with big rally to down ailing Kings

Deron Williams added 20 points and 13 assists, and Mehmet Okur came up big again with 10 points and 10 boards, as the Jazz moved to 11-1 on the season.

Matt Harpring and Derek Fisher each came off the bench for 16 points for Utah, which overcame a 21-point deficit in the third quarter to win at ARCO Arena for just the third time in the last 11 tries. The Jazz finished the game on a 14-2 run.

Kevin Martin scored 24 points and had eight rebounds for the Kings, who suffered their third consecutive defeat. Ron Artest had 19 points and four steals for the Kings, while Ronnie Price scored 16 in a reserve role.

Kings guard Mike Bibby scored 12 points, but left the game in the second quarter after hurting his right leg. He came back briefly before leaving again with a thigh contusion. To make matters worse for the Kings, Artest missed a portion of the game with back spasms.

"With Mike only playing 21 minutes it hurt our offense efficiency," Kings coach Eric Musselman said. "Having said that, I feel our guys played hard. I just think we got stopped down the stretch."

The Jazz fell behind 55-37 at halftime and Shareef Abdur-Rahim’s three-point play to open the third gave the Kings their largest lead.

However, Utah scored 10 in a row at one stretch to close within 61-51, but the Kings built the cushion back to 19 later in the period before settling for an 84-71 lead going into the fourth.

That’s when the Jazz made a big turnaround. Abdur-Rahim’s hook shot made it 95-83 with 8:06 left, but Utah scored the next eight points, with Boozer’s bank shot drawing his team within four with 4:56 remaining.

An Artest free throw had Sacramento ahead 99-96 with 2:35 left, but Utah scored the next 10 points. The Jazz finally went in front on an Okur jumper with 1:45 left, and his jam capped the flurry with 50 seconds left.

Price countered with a layup, but Fisher made four free throws down the stretch to seal it.

"We can’t still expect to get lucky," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said. "Bibby went out of the ball game and Artest was hurting; they weren’t quite the same team without those guys. They man-handled us all night. Then all of a sudden things started to change."

Sacramento raced to a 17-8 lead and was ahead 30-20 after one quarter.

Game Notes

Sloan is five wins shy of 1,000 for his career...The Jazz are now 5-0 without the injured Andrei Kirilenko in the lineup...Ronnie Brewer had 11 points for Utah...Abdur-Rahim scored 11 and Kenny Thomas had 10 for the Kings...Utah shot 54.8 percent from the floor.