NBA: Utah hold off rally from Washington to seal four-point victory
The Utah Jazz recovered their poise just in time to hold off the rejuvenated Washington Wizards 92-88 on Wednesday.
Last Updated: 28/01/13 12:42pm
The Jazz were cruising at 73-52 late in the third when the Wizards stormed back with a 20-2 run that had Utah reeling.
"I would say we were tense," said Utah's Gordon Hayward afterwards. "We go a little too fast and we start missing shots and they were able to get good lucks."
Hayward, who finished with 15 points, scored three after Washington had pulled to within two and Utah made no mistake with their free throws in the closing stages to seal the game.
Paul Millsap led the home side with 16 points and 15 rebounds while team-mate Al Jefferson also notched a double-double.
John Wall, who has impressed since returning from a knee injury, had 14 points and eight assists for the Wizards while Martell Webster recorded 15 in the loss.
"It was a good fight-back by us, but just a bad job of coming out and being ready to play," said Wizards guard A.J. Price.
"If we had come up from the start and been ready to play it probably would have been a different game."
In Portland, the Trail Blazers snapped a four-game losing streak at home with a 100-80 win over the Indiana Pacers.
LaMarcus Aldridge scored 27 points and rookie guard Damian Lillard added 20 points and eight assists for the hosts, who were 56.4 per cent from the floor.
However, it was a miserable night of the Los Angeles Lakers, as they slumped to a 106-93 defeat at the Memphis Grizzlies.
Darrell Arthur scored 20 points and Mike Conley added 19 for Memphis, which has won every one of the 12 games in which it's reached three figures.