Box Score: http://www.nba.com/games/20040115/MIAUTA/boxscore.html <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">SALT LAKE CITY, Jan. 15 (Ticker) -- For three quarters, Andrei Kirilenko and the Utah Jazz appeared uncomfortable in their old uniforms. Down the stretch, it didn't matter what they were wearing. Kirilenko scored 15 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter as the Jazz continued their strong play at home with a 97-85 victory over the Miami Heat. Instead of wearing their regular uniforms, the Jazz sported the purple, gold and green ones with the trademark musical note the franchise used from 1979-96. They struggled for 36 minutes as Kirilenko missed nine of his first 12 shots. "I like them," Kirilenko said of the team's former duds. "I think it's fun sometimes to change your gear and play in another uniform because fans can get bored with the same one. So changing them makes it a little more fun." After making just one basket over the final six minutes of the third quarter, Utah came alive as Kirilenko keyed a 14-4 run. The Russian forward scored 10 points during the spurt, which broke a 64-64 tie. "We were doing a terrible job of executing," Utah coach Jerry Sloan said. "We're not getting the kind of things we need because the point guards had one assist. Fortunately, we were able to hit a couple of shots that broke their back a little bit." "We got a rhythm with our zone a little bit," Jazz guard Raja Bell added. "We found their Achilles' heel somewhat -- our high screen-and-roll with the side cleared out. They had trouble defending that and I think we ran it eight or nine times in a row." Kirilenko made shots from all over the court and sealed the win with an uncontested 3-pointer from the top of the key that made it 86-75 with 3:13 to play. He also grabbed 12 rebounds and blocked five shots as the Jazz improved to 17-3 at the Delta Center. "I had a couple good opportunities to shoot the ball," Kirilenko said. "Before, I had opportunities, but I didn't shoot so good. I started trying to force it a little bit. But I got a lot of good shots. If I'm open, I should take those shots. Raja gave me some great passes." "He just moves and cuts and beats you on effort," Miami coach Stan Van Gundy said. "He's not a 1-on-1 guy. He's a cutter and a mover and makes shots. He's a very, very effective player who has been in a mini-slump a bit. We were just not good on him defensively in the second half." Eddie Jones scored 18 points, Lamar Odom had 14 and Brian Grant chipped in 13 and 11 rebounds for Miami, which fell to 4-18 on the road. "They hit some wide-open shots from the outside," Odom said. "Sometime the game goes like that. We were in the penalty the whole game, which probably took away some of our aggressiveness. It was just a bad game for us." </div> http://www.nba.com/games/20040115/MIAUTA/recap.html
