Boozer, Jazz pound Pacers

Deron Williams and Mehmet Okur netted 17 points for the Jazz, who have won three of their last four. Derek Fisher scored 15 points and Matt Harpring added 12 off the bench.

"I thought we played very well defensively," Utah coach Jerry Sloan said. "We did a good job of executing our offense in the third quarter. We were able to hit some big shots against their zone, and that was big because we’ve had trouble against them."

Jermaine O’Neal poured in 31 points and grabbed nine boards for the Pacers, who have lost three of their last five. Stephen Jackson scored 16 points, and Danny Granger and Sarunas Jasikevicius both had 12.

"They made big plays throughout the game but I think from start to finish they played collectively better than we did," Indiana coach Rick Carlisle said. "They had us on our heels from the very beginning of this game."

Indiana got back into the game on a 13-4 run down the fourth-quarter stretch capped by a pair of O’Neal free throws with two ticks under two minutes left to cut their deficit to 98-92.

Fisher hit a pair of free throws with 30.2 seconds remaining, however. Jamaal Tinsley answered on a layup with 24.2 seconds left, but Dee Brown converted four free throws in the final 22 seconds to preserve the win for Utah.

The Jazz jumped out to an early 29-23 first-quarter lead, and both teams scored 24 in the second for a 53-47 halftime Utah lead.

Utah started to pull away in the third, outscoring Indiana 30-24 for an 83-71 lead heading into the final stanza.

Game Notes

Indiana had a seven-game winning streak against Utah snapped, and have won 11 of the last 16 meetings...The Jazz ended a four-game losing streak at Conseco Fieldhouse.