Okur, Jazz down Hornets

Deron Williams added 20 points and dished out six assists for the streaking Jazz, who have won four of their last five and 11 of their last 13 overall. Carlos Boozer had 17 points and 12 boards in the victory.

"You have to have the attitude that you think you can win," said Utah head coach Jerry Sloan. "It’s alright to have confidence, but the other team will have confidence too, so we just have to come and play and do our job and do it the best we can. That’s all we ask for."

Tyson Chandler netted a season-high 20 points and added 19 rebounds for the Hornets, who have dropped three of their last four games. Desmond Mason donated 17 points and Chris Paul contributed 14 points while dishing out 13 assists.

"We didn’t do a good job defensively," said New Orleans/Oklahoma City head coach Byron Scott. "We have talked about it the last couple of games and practices. We are still making the same mistakes over and over again. Our lack of focus of understanding what we have to do is just not there for whatever reason."

The Hornets stormed out of the gate and opened the contest with an 11-2 run to take control early. David West and Mason each contributed four points during the surge.

The Jazz chipped away at the lead but the Hornets still carried a 19-15 advantage into the second stanza.

Utah woke up in the second quarter and outscored the Hornets 29-18 in the period to take a 44-37 lead into halftime. Okur led the way with 14 points in the first half.

In the third frame, the Jazz continued to run in front and went up 62-46 after Williams drained a three-pointer with just under seven minutes to go. At the end of the third, Utah held a 77-68 advantage.

The Hornets pulled to within 13 points at 93-80 in the final quarter after Paul hit a running jumper in the lane with 5:16 remaining, but that was as close as they could get the rest of the way as the Jazz defense tightened up down the stretch.

Game Notes

Utah has won five of the last seven meetings... The Jazz have won four of their last five games at the Hornets...Gordon Giricek had 13 points off the bench for Utah...West finished with 10 points and seven rebounds in the loss.