TORONTO, March 17 (Ticker) -- The Toronto Raptors are starting to get healthy and hoping it is not too late.

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Vince Carter scored 14 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter as the Raptors rallied for an 85-81 victory over the Utah Jazz.

For the second straight game, the Raptors got a key contributor back from injury as they activated point guard Alvin Williams from the injured list. Williams' return from a knee injury came just three days after Jalen Rose returned from a hand injury.

With Carter, Rose and Williams playing together for the first time since Feb. 13, Toronto (29-39) moved within 1 1/2 games of idle Miami and New York for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. It won for just the fourth time in 17 games.

"Today's game is a must win and a big win, because not only did we need it for the playoffs, but because we didn't get off to a great start," said Rose, who scored 17 points. "It was a character game for us. We fought our way back."

The Raptors opened the fourth quarter with a 15-4 run. Carter scored 11 points in the burst, which gave Toronto a 74-71 edge with 4:11 to play.

Carter capped the run with a lefthanded dunk over Andrei Kirilenko and that may have been the turning point for Toronto.

"(It) woke me up," Carter said. "I've never ever dunked before in my life with my left hand, so I'm excited. I'm just glad that the team we have and the mind-set we have and I think we all understand that it's either win or go home."

"He did a great job," Raptors coach Kevin O'Neill added. "He had some foul trouble but really stepped it up. We went to him with a steady diet of going to him and he created some shots for himself and for some other people."

Toronto never led by more than four points as Utah hung around until the final minute. Just 15 seconds after Donyell Marshall sank an uncontested 3-pointer to put Toronto ahead, 82-79, Gordan Giricek hit a tough jumper to make it a one-point game with 32 seconds to play.

Utah (34-34) still had a chance to tie after Toronto's Morris Peterson split a pair of free throws. But Carter continued his tough defense Kirilenko and forced the All-Star to miss a short jumper with four seconds to play.

The Jazz, who were coming off a blowout loss at Denver on Sunday, remained 1 1/2 games behind the Nuggets for the final playoff berth in the Western Conference. They are tied with Portland for ninth place.

Utah scored just 14 points in the fourth period and shot 33 percent (18-of-54) in the final 36 minutes. The Jazz fell to 1-2 on a five-game road trip that continues Friday against surging Cleveland.

"I think we stopped playing our game," Kirilenko said. "In the second half, they just crashed our boards. I think the second half, they won the hustle plays and the rebounds."

"We lacked execution on our part and lacked help defense coming down the stretch on Vince Carter," Utah center Jarron Collins added. "He played really well and made key shots for them. When he wasn't knocking down shots, he was creating shots for his teammates."