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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Deron Williams scored eight of his 12 points in the third quarter and Carlos Boozer finished with 13 points and 15 rebounds as the Utah Jazz ended a three-game losing streak by beating the Washington Wizards 103-88 Tuesday night.
Ronnie Brewer scored 13 despite playing only the second and fourth quarters as punishment for oversleeping and missing Tuesday morning's shootaround. Kyle Korver added 15 points on his 28th birthday as seven Utah players scored in double figures.
The Jazz had followed a 12-game winning streak by losing the last three of a five-game road trip and couldn't afford to slip up against the hapless Wizards.
Nick Young and Juan Dixon had 14 points each to lead Washington.
Antawn Jamison added 13 points and 10 rebounds and Andray Blatche pulled down 13 boards for the Wizards.
Mehmet Okur scored 13 points and grabbed six rebounds and Andrei Kirilenko and Paul Millsap scored 10 points each for Utah, which finished 41-of-81. Korver went 6-for-9 from the floor and Brewer finished 6-for-10 and had five assists for the Jazz, who won their 12th straight home game.
Utah was playing at home for the first time since March 6 and was sluggish through the first half while taking a 46-36 lead. Utah had a little more life in the third quarter as Williams sparked the offense and the Jazz went 12-for-21 from the floor.
Utah used a 7-0 run to pull away early, then really got going after a brief confrontation between Williams and Dixon in front of the Utah bench.
Dixon caught Williams up high with a foul during a drive toward the basket with 8:07 left in the period. Williams had a few words for Dixon as he was pulled away by teammates, including Boozer, who charged in and cleared out some room for his star point guard.
Williams made both free throws to give Utah a 55-41 lead, then a few minutes later bounced a backward pass between his legs to Okur, who drove for a layup to put Utah up 62-43. The pass was pretty, but Williams topped it on his next assist when he threw an alley-oop before he was even at the midcourt line for a reverse dunk by C.J. Miles that put the Jazz up 64-43 with 5:51 left.
Notes@: Washington's Caron Butler missed his second straight game with an injury to his left hamstring. ... Washington was opening a four-game road trip. ... Okur finished with three blocks — all in the first half. ... Utah had 19 turnovers.
(Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. )
