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Jazz-Suns Preview
Utah Jazz at Phoenix Suns
- The Jazz beat the Spurs, 99-96, on Wednesday and have now won a season-high four straight games overall. Utah is 3-3 in its last six road games after going 1-6 in the first seven road contests of 2012-13.
- Goran Dragic made a short hook shot with 0.5 seconds left and Phoenix defeated Memphis, 82-80, on Wednesday, snapping a 7-game losing streak in the process. The Suns shot just 38.2 percent from the field vs. the Grizzlies -- their first win of the season when hitting under 40 percent of their field goals.
- Utah won the first meeting of the season vs. Phoenix, 94-81, on November 10 in Salt Lake City. The Suns have defeated the Jazz three straight times at US Airways Arena, with each team scoring at least 100 points in each of those contests.
- Paul Millsap scored a team-high 24 points on Wednesday and has now netted 20+ points in four straight games for the first time in his career. Millsap is averaging 19.3 ppg and shooting 57.9 percent from the field in his last seven games vs. the Suns.
- Jared Dudley hit a season-high tying seven field goals in Wednesday's victory, scoring 15 points for the second game in a row in the process. Including a 16-point performance in the first game of 2012-13 vs. the Jazz, Dudley is averaging 15.5 ppg in his last four contests against Utah.
- Utah is allowing an average of 45.6 points in the paint per game this season -- most in the NBA.
By JEFF BARTL
(AP) -- While the Utah Jazz are out to prove they are among the better teams in the league, the Phoenix Suns simply are trying to find some consistency.
Earning a last-second victory over a Western Conference power the last time out was a good place to start for each squad.
Utah looks to earn a third straight victory in the series while avoiding a fourth consecutive loss in Phoenix on Friday night.
The Jazz (13-10) are riding a season-best four-game winning streak after Mo Williams hit a 3-pointer as the buzzer sounded to give them a 99-96 home win over San Antonio on Wednesday.
"We're on a mission," said Williams, who missed his first three 3-point attempts. "We want to be good. We don't know our ceiling yet."
Paul Millsap finished with 24 points and 12 rebounds, Al Jefferson added 21 points and Gordon Hayward had 19 off the bench for Utah, which also beat Orlando, blew out Toronto by 32 and earned a seven-point road win over the Los Angeles Lakers during its streak.
"We wanted to show everybody what we're capable of doing, and if we continue to play like that we're going to shock the world," Millsap said. "The sky's the limit for us.
"We're headed in the right direction. We're starting to figure out how to win."
Phoenix (8-15) hopes it's on track to do the same after ending a seven-game losing streak with a dramatic 82-80 win over Memphis on Wednesday.
Goran Dragic scored the last of his 12 points on a short hook shot with 0.5 seconds remaining to give the Suns their first victory since Nov. 27.
"It was a much needed win, obviously, for us and once again it was against a real quality team," said coach Alvin Gentry, whose team shot only 36.8 percent for its second-worst mark of the season. "I thought our defense was really, really good. We struggled offensively, but I thought our defense was really good. We did a good job."
Jared Dudley and Shannon Brown led Phoenix with 15 points apiece.
"We lost every possible way you can - close games, blowouts, bad teams, good teams, different ways, different lineups - and sometimes you forget how to win," Dudley said. "Now we can start trying to get this thing rolling."
The Suns will look to do so by winning a fourth straight home meeting with the Jazz, who rank near the bottom of the West allowing an average of 103.3 points per game on the road, where they've lost nine of 13.
Utah, though, has won the previous two meetings, both in Salt Lake City. Jefferson is averaging 20.5 points and 11.2 rebounds in 21 career games versus Phoenix, marking the most points and second-most rebounds he averages against any team.
He had 27 points and 14 rebounds while Millsap added 18 and 13 to help beat the Suns 94-81 in the most recent matchup Nov. 10 without Williams, who sat out with a strained right adductor.
Luis Scola had 21 points and 11 boards and Dragic contributed 13 points and six assists for the Suns in that contest.
Updated December 13, 2012
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