SALT LAKE CITY, March 27 (Ticker) -- Carlos Boozer dealt the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets' postseason hopes another blow. He also helped the playoff chances of the Utah Jazz.

Boozer scored eight of his 21 points in the decisive third quarter as the Jazz cruised to a 104-80 victory over the Hornets.

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Winning for just the third time in its last nine games, the Jazz (33-37) jumped one-half game past the Hornets (32-37) into ninth place in the Western Conference standings.

"Tonight we came out we were aggressive and really took it to them," Boozer said. "I thought we played really well. Especially with us being so close to the playoffs."

In peril of missing the playoffs for the third straight season after making it the previous 20 years, Utah is two games behind Sacramento (35-35) for the final playoff spot in the West.

"It's good to get the monkey off our back; we just needed to get a win," Utah forward Matt Harpring said. "Losing is tough in this business today. Winning is great, and now hopefully we can continue to build on this and try to push for the playoffs."

Meanwhile, the Hornets continued their second-half plunge, losing for the 12th time in 13 games.

"It's been unbelievable," Hornets rookie guard Chris Paul said. "To see how great we were playing and see how we've now sort of bottomed out. We've got to find some energy from somewhere to pick it up."

Playing without leading scorer David West due to an injured left ankle suffered in a 105-94 loss at the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday, the Hornets put up a valiant fight until the Jazz took control in the third quarter.

Holding just a 55-52 lead at the half, Utah switched to a zone defense following the break, stifling the Hornets, who managed just 28 points following intermission.

Leading 64-60 with 6:03 left in the third quarter, the Jazz went on a 12-0 run over the next 3 1/2 minutes. Finishing 56 percent (37-of-66) from the field, Utah notched its largest margin of victory of the season.

"I think we forced them to play our game in the third quarter," said Jazz swingman Andrei Kirilenko, who had 13 points and five blocks. "The first half was kind of just fighting back and forth. Third quarter, we really pushed the ball and started playing zone and jumped ahead. I think we kind of broke them in the third quarter."

The second-half collapse continued a frustrating trend for the Hornets.

"We are so weak mentally and physically," coach Byron Scott said. "When it comes to the second half, we might as well just get on the bus because our guys don't show up. We're just not tough enough. I think a few of guys in there quit, which is very disappointing to me. And they won't be here, simple as that."

Boozer, who finished with eight rebounds and five assists, led five players in double figures, shooting 8-of-16 from the field to help pick apart the Hornets, who also went more exclusively to a zone in the second half.

"We helped each other out," Boozer said. "They gave us a couple openings and we took advantage of them. They ran zone most of the second half; we just happened to find the open holes and guys were knocking down shots."

Rookie Deron Williams scored 20 points and Harpring chipped in 15 and 11 rebounds for Utah, which held a 45-23 advantage on the boards, posting 16 second-chance points.

"We were able to get the ball inside against some of the mismatches we had and get the ball where we'd like it to go, rather than looking for outside shots," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said.

Rasual Butler scored 15 points on 7-of-12 shooting for the Hornets. The rest of the team shot just 38 percent (23-of-61).

Speedy Claxton finished with 13 points and Paul added 11 despite 3-of-7 shooting for the Hornets, who were as many as six games above .500 when they were 31-25 on Feb. 22.