Utah Jazz Team Report - November 27

(Basketball News) - Raul Lopez scored eight of his 10 points during a key fourth-quarter run, as the Utah Jazz held on for an 83-76 victory over Houston on Wednesday at the Delta Center.

Andrei Kirilenko added 23 points for the Jazz, who have won four of their last six games, improving to a surprising 8-6 record. Maurice Williams contributed 10 points off the bench in the win.

Yao Ming spent much of the game at the free throw line, which is where he was when he made 1-of-2 to pull Houston within 69-67 with 4:04 remaining in the game. But the Jazz responded with a 12-6 spurt to take an eight-point lead with less than a minute to play.

Kirilenko’s bucket sparked the burst and gave Utah a 71-67 advantage. Houston responded at the other end when Eric Piatkowski drained a three-pointer to make it 71-70, but Lopez kept the Jazz afloat with the first of his two key threes in the game.

Another Lopez bucket around the 2:00 mark extended the Utah advantage to 76-70, and after Yao’s bucket made it a four-point game, Lopez calmly drained his second three-pointer for a 79-72 lead with 1:49 to play.

Jim Jackson’s free throw got Houston within 79-73, but Kirilenko ended the Utah run with a rebound dunk to make it a 81-73, and the outcome was never in doubt.

The Jazz are off until Friday when they host Ronald Murray and the Seattle SuperSonics.