Utah Jazz Team Report - March 2

(Basketball News) - Gordan Giricek scored 12 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter on Monday to lead the Utah Jazz to a 94-86 victory over the Detroit Pistons at the Delta Center.

Aleksandar Pavlovic contributed 15 points, while Carlos Arroyo added 13 with eight assists for the Jazz, who have won four consecutive games and are now just two games back of the Denver Nuggets for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

With the score tied at 82-82 late in the fourth quarter, Giricek buried a three-pointer from the right corner to give Utah a three-point lead with 3:17 remaining.

After Greg Ostertag gave the Jazz an 87-84 lead with a pair of free throws, Giricek scored on a layup after a turnover to give the Jazz a five-point lead with 2:05 remaining. Andrei Kirilenko’s underhand layup for the Jazz made it 93-86 with 25 seconds left.

Prior to the game Kirilenko, who ended with 11 points, eight boards, six blocks and four steals, was named the Western Conference Player of the Week after the All-Star forward averaged 25.0 points, 10.7 rebounds, 3.0 blocks and 1.67 steals per game last week to help his team to a perfect 3-0 record.

Utah, which will wrap up a brief two-game homestand against Indiana on Friday, won for just the second time in its last six at home last night and improved to 21-10 in Salt Lake City this season.

The Jazz lost to the Pacers earlier in the year, but have won four of the last seven and 11 of the previous 17 matchups, including two of three and nine of the last 11 in Utah.