Utah Jazz at New York Knicks, 11/9/09

Jazz win in New York for first time since 2004
By BRIAN MAHONEY, AP Basketball Writer

NEW YORK(AP) Carlos Boozer and Andrei Kirilenko each scored 23 points, and the Utah Jazz won in New York for the first time in more than five years by beating the Knicks 95-93 on Monday night.

Mehmet Okur had the go-ahead basket with 1:16 to play and finished with 18 points and 12 rebounds for the Jazz, who opened a difficult four-game road trip by winning at Madison Square Garden for the first time since Feb. 20, 2004.

Deron Williams was limited to five points but had 16 assists. Utah, which earned its first road victory of the season, visits Boston next and wraps up the trip Saturday night at Cleveland.

Rookie Toney Douglas scored a season-high 21 points for the Knicks, who nearly dug their way out of another huge deficit with a big fourth-quarter rally. But he missed just before the buzzer, sending New York (1-7) to its fourth straight loss.

Wilson Chandler scored 17 points, and Larry Hughes and David Lee each had 12 for the Knicks.

The Jazz led by 21 points early in the second half but the Knicks rallied with an effective zone defense, taking advantage of Utah's perimeter shooting woes while top outside threat Kyle Korver (left knee surgery) remains sidelined.

Utah was still ahead by 11 with under 8 minutes to play before Al Harrington and Danilo Gallinari drilled consecutive 3-pointers to start a 10-0 run that cut it to 84-83 on Harrington's dunk with 6:21 remaining.

Consecutive layups by Douglas tied it at 93 with 1:36 left and the Knicks forced another miss, but the rebound went right to Okur for a tip-in and the lead for good.

The Knicks missed with three more chances to tie, the final one Douglas' tough attempt in the closing seconds.

Utah benefits from every New York loss, so Monday was a win-win proposition.

The Jazz own New York's first-round pick in 2010, which seems destined to be a high lottery selection with the Knicks' woeful start. The pick was originally sent to Phoenix in the Stephon Marbury deal in 2004 and later moved to Utah by the Suns in a trade for Tom Gugliotta.

New York was headed toward another big first-quarter deficit when Utah raced to a 22-10 lead, but the Knicks locked down defensively, holding the Jazz to three points the final 5 minutes and cutting it to 25-18.

Utah opened another double-digit lead about 3 1/2 minutes into the second, then finished the half with an 11-3 burst to make it 48-31. The Knicks missed all 10 3-point attempts in their lowest-scoring half of the season, hearing some loud boos in the final minutes.

Kirilenko hit one of his five 3-pointers to push it to 52-31 1:10 into the second half and the Jazz led by double digits for nearly the entire third quarter, bringing a 78-64 advantage into the final 12 minutes.

NOTES: Knicks C Eddy Curry is expected to return to practice Tuesday for the first time since the opening day of training camp. Curry injured his calf that night and the Knicks decided he wouldn't practice again until he had improved his conditioning enough to avoid injuries. Coach Mike D'Antoni said Curry has been working out on a "pace that's murderous.'' ... Injured guard Nate Robinson (sprained right ankle) could return late this week. ... Utah backup guard Ronnie Price left with a sprained toe.

BOXSCORE

Post Game Quotes

Coach Jerry Sloan
On tonight’s game:
“Playing against the zone you have to be able to make some shots out there. We got the ball in the middle a few times and got some lay-ups, but missed those, which gave them [Knicks] a little more confidence and we lost ours a little bit.”

On the Knicks comeback:
“That’s basketball. They [Knicks] did a good job, they got the ball up the floor they, were 8-29 for three-point shots in the second half – I think that had a lot to do with it. When your guy is open out there, they beat us in one-on one situation, a number of times, [Wilson] Chandler had the ball and made some baskets. We didn’t do a very good job defensively, got keep him from doing that, it will cause you a lot of grief later if you don’t win the game.”

More on the Knicks comeback:
“You got to be able to make some stops. A couple times, we did a poor job of giving help, [Toney] Douglas got in the lane for some lay-ups. We stood and hugged our man on the perimeter and looked like we were glued to them.”

Carlos Boozer
On the Knicks comeback:
“We give them credit. We got off to a good lead and they didn’t quit. They fought back. They made shot after shot. They did a good job in the zone, but thanks to A.K. [Andrei Kirilenko] he got hot in the third quarter and made a few threes in a row to get us going and at the end of the game we got a stop when we had to. In the last couple of games, we lost games in the fourth quarter so we’re proud of ourdelves for winning tonight, but we still have a lot to improve on.

On getting a Win at the Garden:
“I don’t think I’ve won here since I’ve been in a Jazz uniform so its good to get a win here.”

Andrei Kirilenko
On tonight’s game:
“It’s always not comfortable to play against Mike D’Antoni’s offense because of the fast pace of the game. When we’re running back and forth, especially with the injuries we have, it’s kind of tough to survive in the third and fourth quarters.”

Post Game Quotes

Head Coach Mike D’Antoni
On Toney Douglas:
“I thought he played really well. I thought his speed, athleticism, and tenacity on defense really picked us up. It’s funny, he kind of broke the dam and everybody else was following him trying to make their shots. We didn’t do anything different, but second half, we scored 62, the first half 31. It’s just a matter of confidence and keeping your head up and working through it. Toney gave us a nice spark.”

On the last play of the game:
“Actually the play was for Larry Hughes. I have to see it. We just didn’t execute it real well.”

On tonight’s game:
“They are really good at what they do. We just tried to make them play a different game. (Andrei) Kirilenko got hot and that’s something that hurt us. But, I thought we tried. We had energy and we were active. Toney (Douglas) and Larry (Hughes) out front were causing problems. We’ll probably use this going forward. Basically, you still have to defend a man. But, it was something that maybe we could use time to time. I thought Jared (Jeffries) did an unbelievable job in the middle taking charges and just disrupting.”

On the Knicks:
“I just know we can do it. Whether we will or not, we’re all here to see that. But there are times when we play really well. There are times when we make shots and run the floor. Whatever reason, psychologically, we’re just having a hard time getting going. Until somebody breaks through and hopefully this will be it. I thought maybe against Philadelphia that was it. I thought maybe Cleveland was it. It hasn’t been there. We keep searching and hoping. But, we can work with this and just try and get better.”

David Lee
On tonight’s game:
“Yea I mean that’s the first close game we have been in quite awhile. Tonight the second half was better and we really didn’t play that poorly defensively in the first half.”

On the zone:
“We went with something a little different because Utah is so good inside and running there set offense. We just tried to take them out of there rhythm and make them hit outside shoots normally (Andrei) Kirilenko doesn’t hit five (three-pointers) from the perimeter.”

On their second half defense:
”I think a little of part of it was we pretty much put the zone in yesterday during practice. In the second half we did a better job as we sort of figured out the zone for ourselves.”

On Toney Douglas:
“He’s been playing his butt off in practice for us now he got a chance to do it in a game in crunch time minutes and he did a great job. The first thing Toney (Douglas) does is he comes with a lot of energy along with this he is willing to learn so that’s a pretty good combination.”

Toney Douglas
On tonight’s game:
“Coach is always telling me to shoot the ball during practice and tonight my jumper felt really good. Whenever I am on the court I am trying to do whatever I can to help the team.”

On zone defense:
“I always try and talk and communicate on defense. They have good players and we have to make sure we match up.”

Larry Hughes
On tonight’s game:
“We just got a loss. We gotta get back to practice, back to the drawing board and try to figure this thing out. We gotta do what we can to put W’s on the board.”

On playing the zone:
“ We’re still developing. This was something new for us. We watched their [Jazz] last game and kind of threw it in. It [the zone] was pretty effective; Andrei [Kirilenko] made some shots out there on the three and we did our job as far as keeping the guys out of the paint. But it just wasn’t good enough.”

More on playing the zone:
“Every game is different, it’s tough to play a zone for 48 minutes, but it works and it’s effective. We’re getting some good minutes out of it. I don’t see why not to run it. We must try to be more active and learn the spots more and how to pass guys off.”

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