Pheeew! Utah Jazz nearly lay an Easter egg against Sonics before roaring back with a big second half
That's right around the same time the Jazz unlocked their offense, and finally got their act together en route to a 115-101 victory over hapless Seattle at sold-out EnergySolutions Arena.
By the time they were done, Williams, Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur would all have double-doubles, the Jazz would have their 20th win in their last 21 games at home, the Sonics would have their 11th straight loss and ol' Lil' Jon — seated prominently at center court — would have the floor, and a microphone, for a mini preview of the show he was about to put on.
That's right, the man sporting sunglasses and a really big gold rope around his neck rapped a couple lines in Larry H. Miller's house.
"It was cool, man," said Williams, who had 15 points to go with his game-high 14 assists. "Lil' Jon's a great dude, man. We're gonna have fun tonight."
"We need more of that. We need more people to come out here and get the crowd hyped like that," added Boozer, whose 13 rebounds and game-high 26 points marked his team-leading 47th double-double of the season. "We don't get that too much in Utah, but it was great to see him out there with us."
Seattle — at 16-54, worst team in the NBA's Western Conference — led by 11 points after one quarter, by as many as 12 early in the second and by nine heading into halftime, thanks largely to the 23 points apiece it got from rookies Kevin Durant and Jeff Green.
"I thought we were trying hard," said Jazz coach Jerry Sloan, whose 46-25 club's 19-game home win streak came to a close with last Thursday's loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. "We just couldn't make things work."
Okur saw that they did after the break, scoring 14 points in the third quarter — including the period's first seven straight for Utah — and sending the Northwest Division-leading Jazz into the fourth up four at 85-81.
He did so despite a bout with the stomach flu that left him drained for much of the early part of last week, and finished with 24 points.
"Sometimes when you're sick," Sloan said, "is when you shoot your best baskets. ... I mean, Michael Jordan was sick in here one time, right?"
"Memo took the game over in that third quarter, and then the rest of us got going," Boozer said. "He came out just firing from the start. I don't know if he had something to eat at halftime or what, but he came out cooking."
A 16-foot jumper from Matt Harpring gave the Jazz their first lead since 11-10 at 81-79 with one minute and 40 seconds left in the third, and it wound up being an advantage Utah would maintain the rest of the way.
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