Jazz rally again to beat Bobcats


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CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- The Utah Jazz are making a habit of comeback victories.

Deron Williams hit a running hook shot from seven feet out with 0.8 seconds left to cap a fourth-quarter rally and give the Jazz a 96-95 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats on Saturday night.

Williams finished with 17 points and nine assists for Utah, which overcame a 16-point halftime deficit to win its fifth consecutive game and fourth straight on the road.

Al Jefferson had 19 points, Paul Millsap 17, C.J. Miles 14 and Andrei Kirilenko 12 for the Jazz, who also had to overcome double-digit deficits in winning its previous four games.

"We haven't panicked -- we just keep fighting," Williams said. "We know we've still got a chance. When we're down 20, we talked about getting it down to 10. When we got it down to 10, we were like, 'Let's get it going.' So we did."

Utah's come-from-behind streak began on Nov. 9 when it trailed the Los Angeles Clippers by 16 points before rallying for a 109-107 double-overtime victory at home.

Then on this road trip -- four games in five days -- the Jazz rallied from 22 points down to beat Miami 116-114 in overtime Tuesday, trailed Orlando by 18 points before winning 104-94 on Wednesday, and was down 11 to Atlanta in the fourth quarter before rallying for a 90-86 win Friday.

"The guys believed they could come back and win," Jazz head coach Jerry Sloan said. "I felt that when I was in there (at the half). They were going to do what we've always done by trying to run the floor better and make some stops."

Nazr Mohammed had 22 points and 20 rebounds for the Bobcats, who led by as many as 19 points in the first quarter and held a 73-63 margin going into the final period.

"He was the only guy that got anything going at the end," Charlotte head coach Larry Brown said. "We had no chance without him. Nazr kept us in the game."

Down 49-33 at the halftime break, the Jazz whittled away at the Bobcats' lead in the second half, pulling within 10 points by the end of the third quarter and into single digits midway through the final period.

"We were calm the whole time," Williams said. "I looked up and said to Al (Jefferson), We're down 10.' He said, Did you have any doubt? That says it all right there."

Utah took its first lead late in the fourth quarter, going up 92-91 on Jefferson's 3-point play with 2:30 remaining.

Stephen Jackson, who scored 24 points, hit a pair of free throws 12 seconds later to put the Bobcats back in the lead, and Mohammed's layup with 59.8 seconds left gave Charlotte a 95-92 margin.

But Jefferson dropped in a layup with 41 seconds left to pull Utah within one point. D.J. Augustin then turned the ball over with 24 seconds remaining while trying to drive for a layup, setting up Williams' game winner over Jackson.

"It's a very, very tough loss because it's not like it's a secret that (Utah) has been coming back on teams," Mohammed said. "We knew what they were capable of, so that's what hurts the most. We knew that they were capable of it, and we still let them come back and get us."

Augustin finished with 12 points and 10 assists, Gerald Wallace had 13 points and Boris Diaw 12 for the Bobcats, who remained winless at home in four games after going 31-10 on their home court last season.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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