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Jazz Down Raptors For Ninth Consecutive Time

POSTED: Thursday, November 19, 2009

(Sports Network) - Deron Williams returned to the Utah lineup and scored 20 points, dished out nine assists and had six rebounds as the Jazz never trailed in beating Toronto for a ninth straight time, 104-91, at EnergySolutions Arena.

Williams missed the final two games of the team's road trip to be with his daughter as she went through some medical tests. He shot 8-of-16 from the field Wednesday night, helping the Jazz overcome the absence of Mehmet Okur (flu) and Ronnie Price (sprained left big toe).

Carlos Boozer scored 22 and pulled down 18 rebounds for Utah, which also received 20 points from Andrei Kirilenko. Eric Maynor scored nine of his 15 points during a big fourth quarter run that sealed the victory.

"He has been playing great that allows me to step out and play the two a little bit," Williams said of Maynor. "He earned playing time, he showed the coaching staff he belongs on the court and played well in my absence and is still playing well."

Chris Bosh totaled 32 points and 17 rebounds for the Raptors, who have lost three in a row. Marco Belinelli added 19 points, while Andrea Bargnani chipped in 10 points and 11 boards, one night after a 130-112 loss in Denver.

"I think we made it possible to win the game," said Belinelli. "We made a couple of mistakes especially in the last quarter. We can't make these mistakes against a team like Utah or Denver. Now the game is over so we have to think about the next games at home. We have three games at home, and of course we have to win those games."

Ahead by just three moving to the fourth, the Jazz saw their margin trimmed to one on a layup by Belinelli in the opening minute. But Utah responded with a dominating 17-2 spurt to take control with Maynor acting as the catalyst. Kirilenko's two free throws finished the burst for a 95-79 margin with 4:48 left.

"He's stepped in. He's got swag, he's got confidence," Boozer said of Maynor. "When he comes in the game he knows what he's supposed to do out there and does a great job of doing it. We're finding out that we're a deeper team than we knew coming into the season."

The Raptors, who haven't beaten the Jazz since December 22, 2004, fell behind 8-0 thanks in part to a pair of early turnovers. Jose Calderon's bad pass turned into a steal and layup for Kyrylo Fesenko. Ronnie Brewer came up with another steal, leading to a jumper for Wesley Matthews to cap the rally.

Utah widened the margin to 31-13 with 1:02 left in the quarter and carried a 33-17 cushion into the second. The Jazz were ahead by double digits nearly the entire second quarter until the visitors closed the gap to nine late, including when Bosh converted two free throws in the waning seconds for a 61-52 difference at the half.

Toronto shot just 11-of-30 from the field in the third, but still managed to cut into the lead as the Jazz went 4-of-14 from the floor in the period. Belinelli's three-pointer in the last second brought the Raptors within 78-75.

"I thought we had a great fourth quarter," said Jazz coach Jerry Sloan. "To be able to finish the game like we did. They shoot the ball long a great deal and we have to rebound the ball to run the fast break. Down the stretch we executed our offense. This was a terrific win for us."

Game Notes

Raptors forward Hedo Turkoglu, who was on the inactive list for Tuesday night's loss in Denver with a sore hip, started and had 11 points...Calderon scored 13, while Paul Millsap had 10 for the Jazz...The Raptors shot 37.4 percent from the field...Toronto went 1-3 on a four-game road trip and will return to Air Canada Centre for a three-game homestand against Miami, Orlando and Indiana.

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