Kobe's 45 leads Lakers past Pacers 96-90
(AP)
Updated: 2006-01-10 14:03

Peterson finished with 22 points for Toronto, which has lost two straight after a season-high five-game winning streak.

Jazz move above .500 with win over Wizards

WASHINGTON - Mehmet Okur had 19 points and 13 rebounds, and the Utah Jazz moved above .500 Monday night with a 97-89 victory over the Washington Wizards.

Andrei Kirilenko added 17 points for the Jazz, who used balanced scoring and patient teamwork to win their seventh in eight games. They had assists on nine of their first 11 baskets and began to pull away with a 14-2 run starting late in the first quarter, then held off a too-little, too-late Wizards rally in the fourth.

The Jazz, who won at Detroit in overtime on Saturday, finished with 28 assists on 37 field goals and have a winning record for the first time in nearly two months, when they were 4-3 following a Nov. 12 win over Chicago.

Antawn Jamison scored a season-high 30 points to lead the Wizards, who have lost four of five and again were booed off the court, this time after Gilbert Arenas missed a layup that left them trailing 47-33 at halftime. Washington is 1-3 with one to go in a set of five games coach Eddie Jordan had targeted to turn around the season, with the only victory coming by one point Saturday over struggling Boston.

The Wizards whittled a 22-point, third-quarter deficit to six in the final 2 minutes of the game, but one big possession regained the momentum for the Jazz. Matt Harpring made a nice catch to save a timeline violation, and Deron Williams hit a 3-pointer just before the shot clock expired to get Utah's lead back to nine with 1:17 remaining.

Caron Butler scored 16 points, and Antonio Daniels had a season-high 15 for the Wizards. Arenas scored 14 but struggled most of the game, shooting 6-for-17. He had only eight points on 3-for-9 shooting at halftime.

The Wizards missed seven of their first eight shots to start the second quarter, but their defense was again the culprit. Utah entered the game averaging 88.6 points, second lowest in the league, but they shot 49 percent and nearly broke 100 for only the fifth time the season.