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Jazz plays sweet tune as Hornets sing the blues
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Turkish center Mehmet Okur scored 22 points and grabbed 17 rebounds to lead the Utah Jazz over New Orleans 77-66 in a Tuesday matchup of National Basketball Association contenders.

Utah's Deron Williams passed out 16 assists while Carlos Boozer and Andrei Kirilenko each contributed 10 points and helped a tough defense that ended the Hornets' 11-game home win streak and five-game overall win streak.

New Orleans connected on only 27-of-74 shots from the field, a meager 37 percent, and produced their fewest points of the season in a game, lowering the old mark of 71 the Jazz had imposed upon them on November 23.

Utah rose to 52-26 to tighten the gap behind Western Conference leader New Orleans ( 54-23).

The Jazz, founded in New Orleans before moving to Salt Lake City, jumped ahead 58-48 eight minutes into the second half and scored the final eight points of the third period as part of a 19-4 run for a 68-50 edge entering the fourth quarter.

New Orleans trimmed the deficit to 73-62 with 3:40 to play with an 8-0 run but came no nearer than nine the remainder of the game.

Chris Paul, the Hornets' top scorer with 21.5 points a game, managed only four points on 2-of-11 shooting.

"It was the first time in a long time that I can remember that we just couldn't make shots on a consistent basis," Hornets coach Byron Scott told reporters.

"You have to give them credit on defense, but we just couldn't knock down the shots."

Serbian standout Peja Stojakovic led the Hornets with 15 points while David West added 14.

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