Utah held Philadelphia scoreless for nearly nine minutes to pull away to a blowout in the Jazz’s first home game in almost two weeks.“We got off to a terrible start. The way we played it was a good thing we had a chance to make amends a little bit,” Utah coach Jerry Sloan said. “We have to learn how to cut the turnovers down because those things have been killing us.”
The Jazz ended a two-game losing streak, which appeared in jeopardy of becoming three in a row with 12 turnovers in the first half. Utah cut the giveaways to eight in the second half and beat Philadelphia for the sixth straight time.
Deron Williams had 27 points and eight assists to lead the Jazz and Carlos Boozer added 19 points and 11 rebounds. Turkish star Mehmet Okur had 16 points with eight rebounds and two assists and Wesley Matthews also scored 16 apiece for Utah, which held Philadelphia to just three field goals in the fourth quarter.
The Jazz hadn’t played at home since Dec. 14 and play their next two on the road, starting on Wednesday in Minnesota.
Thaddeus Young scored 20 for the Sixers, who played much of the game without starting center Samuel Dalembert. Dalembert had three fouls midway through the first quarter and played just 16:24, but still managed to pull down nine rebounds. Elton Brand and Jrue Holiday added 10 points apiece for Philadelphia, which was outrebounded 49-39 and had just 11 assists to Utah’s 24.
Other NBA results: Dallas 106, Memphis 101; Atlanta 110, Indiana 98; Houston 98, New Jersey 93; Oklahoma City 98, Charlotte 91; Chicago 96, New Orleans 85; Minnesota 101, Washington 89; San Antonio 112, Milwaukee 97; LA Lakers 112, Sacramento 103; OT Golden State 132, Phoenix 127.
