Jazz nearly get Knicked at home

    For the second straight home game the Utah Jazz blew a 20-plus point second half lead only to rally for a victory.
    The New York Knicks erased an 24-point third quarter deficit and took a one-point lead midway through the fourth quarter, but Deron Williams and the Jazz righted the ship and pulled away for their fifteenth straight home win, 112-104.
    “The good thing about it is we won the game,” forward Carl Boozer said. “We do have to figure it out though, we don’t want to keep doing that over and over again.”
    Williams led all scorers with 24 points as well as dishing out a game high 13 assists to lead the Jazz, but had a brutal third quarter as he missed about five consecutive shots as New York clawed their way back into the game.
    Midway through the contest, however, it didn’t look like Utah would need any late game heroics to finish off the Knicks. The Jazz shot a scorching 70 percent in the opening quarter – including 3-of-3 from beyond the arc – as they jumped out to a 12-point lead.
    Boozer got things going early for the Jazz, scoring 10 of his 21 points in the opening quarter on 3-4 shooting. Along with Williams, Boozer finished with a double-double as he pulled down 11 rebounds.
    In the second quarter the Jazz continued to build on their lead as they opened up a 20-point advantage when Williams swiped the ball and found a streaking Ronnie Brewer for a thunderous dunk with 19.8 seconds to play.
    Brewer finished with 17 points on 8-of-12 shooting.
    New York would score to get back under 20, but the Knicks Jared Jeffries was whistled for a foul on Williams with 1.8 seconds remaining and Knicks head coach Mike D’Antoni was assessed a technical foul for arguing the call. Williams calmly sank all three shots from the charity stripe to put the Jazz up 21, 67-46, heading into the intermission.
    That’s about as good as things got for the Jazz.
    For the second consecutive game Utah watched a large lead disappear as they struggled to knock down open shots and struggled even more to stop New York.
    During last Saturday’s contest against the Phoenix Suns the Jazz held a 21-point lead in the second half of that game only to have to rally in the final seconds of regulation to force overtime – where they were able to pull out the victory.
    Led by Al Harrington, David Lee and Nate Robinson, the Knicks chipped away at the huge deficit and had pulled within eight, 86-78, heading into the fourth quarter.
    “We did a bad job of playing defense in the third quarter,” Boozer said. “They made a lot of shots and we missed a lot of jump shots … we’ll figure it out. In the playoffs that’s something that could be our Achilles’ heal.”
    The Knicks run continued in the final period and culminated when Robinson was able to force a steal and was fouled by Williams as he was driving for a layup. Robinson made both free throws to put the Knicks up 93-92 with a little more than seven minutes remaining – their first lead since 2-0 in the first quarter.
    However, New York’s ecstasy on regaining the lead was short lived. On Utah’s ensuing possession, Williams drove the lane, crossed-over his defender and rolled in a layup to put the Jazz back on top for good.
    The Knicks continued to hang around, but could never get back over the hump as the Jazz finished out the game strong. Sharpshooter Kyle Korver knocked down 5-of-6 free throws in the final minutes to seal the deal for Utah.
    Harrington led the Knicks with 24 points but was ejected after being assessed two technical fouls in the final 20 seconds. Trailing by six with 22.3 on the clock New York had the ball but Harrington was whistled for an offensive foul. His protests led to two Korver free throws and the early exit.
    “We’re very happy to win the game,” Boozer said. “We are aware that we’ve got to do a better job of maintaining our leads – that’s two games in a row and we don’t want to make that a habit.”
    The win tied Utah’s record with division foe Portland and moved the Jazz into fifth place in the Western Conference standings prior to last night’s game at Portland. Including the Trailblazers the Jazz finish with six of their final nine games on the road – with none of those away games coming against a team with a losing record.
    “I think every game the atmosphere is going to be like the playoffs,” Brewer said. “Every game is important and a must win … we’re looking forward to the challenge, and hopefully we can step up and meet it.”
    Utah is 1-14 on the road this season against teams with winning records, and that lone win came against the Philadelphia 76ers who barely fit that bill.
    “We want to win every game we step on the floor for,” Jazz head coach Jerry Sloan said. “With that in mind it means you have to take care of yourself and be ready to go when the game starts.”
–t.olsen@aggiemail.usu.edu