Utah 126, Phoenix 118
PHOENIX, March 7 (AP) -- Carlos Boozer scored 17 of his 23 points in the second half, including a tough eight-foot bank shot with 31.1 seconds to play, and the Utah Jazz handed the Phoenix Suns their third consecutive home loss, 126-118 on Friday night.
Deron Williams had 25 points and 15 asssists and Mehmet Okur had 25 points, including 4-of-6 3-pointers, and grabbed 14 rebounds to give the Jazz their fourth win in a row and just their 14th in 33 games on the road this season.
Amare Stoudemire scored 37 but the Suns fell to 3-6 since Shaquille O'Neal joined the lineup. O'Neal had 20 points, his highest-scoring game with Phoenix, and Steve Nash added 17 points and 15 assists.
Raja Bell added 19 points. Phoenix is 8-0 when he scores at least 20.
The Jazz, who shot 57 percent, outscored Phoenix 12-4 over the frantic final 2:09.
Andrei Kirilenko missed his second game in a row for Utah with a right hip strain.
The Jazz shot 56 percent in the first half and still trailed 66-59 at the break. That's because Phoenix shot 57 percent, including three 3-pointers in the final 1:24, two by Bell and one by Nash.
Williams started and ended a 9-0 run with jumpers, his last an 11-footer to give Utah its first lead since the early minutes, 80-79 with 5:56 left in the third.
Nash responded with a 3, Bell added his fifth 3 of the game, Stoudemire made a three-point play and Phoenix went on a 15-3 run to go up 94-83 on Bell's two free throws with 39.9 seconds to play in the quarter.
Paul Millsap's basket cut it to 94-85 entering the fourth and ignited a 12-2 outburst that put Utah ahead 97-96 on Williams' driving layup with 8:42 to play. Stoudemire, Nash and Bell were on the bench during the surge.
There were seven lead changes and four ties before the Jazz went ahead 118-114 on four consecutive free throws, two by Kyle Korver with 2:09 to play and two by Boozer with 1:18 to go. Stoudemire's three-point play cut it to 118-117, but Williams made a 12-footer to boost the lead to 120-117.
O'Neal made one of two free throws to cut it to 120-118 with 55.5 seconds to play, but Boozer's pretty shot over Stoudemire made it a four-point lead and Suns couldn't recover.
Notes: Stoudemire has led the Suns in scoring for a career-high 13 straight games and scored at least 20 in a career-best 15 straight. ... There were 59 fouls called in the contest. ... Utah is home against Denver on Saturday night before beginning a four-game eastern road trip. ... Phoenix is home against San Antonio on Sunday.
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Jazz 126, Suns 118 (F)

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