Jazz use late rally to take down Spurs


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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- The Utah Jazz kept their losing streak brief by getting back to what got them off to the best start in the NBA.

The score was close and the shooting wasn't good for either team, but the Jazz dominated San Antonio in rebounding and beat the Spurs 83-75 Wednesday.

The Jazz seemed to corral almost every missed shot -- and there were plenty of them -- and outrebounded San Antonio 50-34 while beating the Spurs for the first time since April 2005.

"I repeat it every time: We've got to get our boards because that was they key to tonight's game," said Andrei Kirilenko, who had nine rebounds for Utah. "They missed lots of shots. We didn't let them get the second chances."

Carlos Boozer led the Jazz with 23 points and 16 rebounds and Matt Harpring added 13 points and 12 boards. Deron Williams finished with 15 points and nine assists.

After starting the season 12-1, the Jazz were coming off consecutive losses to Golden State and Orlando, getting outrebounded in both games. It was the one area they controlled all night Wednesday and it helped make up for a sluggish start, when the Spurs pulled ahead by 10 in the second quarter.

The Jazz had 16 offensive rebounds to seven for the Spurs.

"We got ourselves into a hole tonight and fortunately we were able to fight back out of it," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said.

Tim Duncan had 21 points and 10 rebounds for San Antonio, which lost for the third time in four games and shot 39.7 percent (29-for-73) from the field.

"We're just kind of in a bad stretch right now. Not too much you can do," Duncan said. "You've just kind of got to take a step back and that's what practice will do for us."

Bruce Bowen scored 17 and Tony Parker had 14 points for the Spurs.

San Antonio had won 22 of its last 24 games against the Jazz. The Spurs led by 10 in the second quarter and were up 39-37 at halftime before Utah woke up in the third quarter and won the showdown of the teams with the top records in the Western Conference.

Duncan had just seven points and four rebounds in the second half and was covered much of the time by Boozer. Duncan thought Boozer helped his defense a little with some contact to Duncan's arm.

"He played the right way. He made the plays and they didn't blow the whistle. So in that respect, he did a great job," Duncan said.

The Jazz were 8-for-16 in third and got a spark from Kirilenko's three blocks. Kirilenko also stole a pass from Duncan on the baseline and saved it from going out of bounds by getting it to Williams, who started a fast break that Boozer finished to put Utah ahead 57-53.

Robert Horry tied it at 61 on a 3-pointer for the Spurs as the shot clock expired with 10 minutes left in the game and it stayed close until the final few minutes.

Boozer put Utah ahead 68-67, starting an 11-3 run that put Utah in control. Harpring followed with a layup and a jumper in the lane. Williams finished off the run with a spinning, reverse layup, then a 3-pointer that gave Utah a 78-71 lead with 2:34 left.

Beno Udrih scored 11 to lead the Spurs' reserves, who scored a combined 20 points.

Mehmet Okur scored 10 for the Jazz.

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