Cancel the chiropractor appointments. Forget about the pre-game back rubs. Mehmet Okur’s back is just fine.
The starting center for the Utah Jazz (13-5) shook off some nagging back spasms that kept him out of Friday night’s bout with the Lakers and scored a team-high 25 points to lead the Jazz to a 110-101 win over the Miami Heat.
Okur appeared quite limber against Miami’s Shaquille O’Neal, banging inside the paint and grabbing six rebounds — one more than his Miami counterpart.
If that isn’t evidence enough that Okur’s back is healthy, how about his sinking four out of five 3-pointers, including one with 1:19 to go when the game was still very much on the line?
“I thought he played great,” Jazz guard Deron Williams said of Okur. “Didn’t look like his back was hurting too much tonight.”
It helped that Okur didn’t have to shoulder the load by himself. Williams contributed 24 points and 15 assists while Carlos Boozer added another double-double with 24 points and 15 rebounds.
The Heat’s Dwyane Wade led his team in the losing effort with 26 points, 10 assists and four rebounds. He fought until the end, scoring six points and dishing three assists in the final quarter, but the usually ice-cold star missed a couple of free throws down the stretch.
“(The Jazz) kept on their offense,” Wade said. “Boozer hit a couple of big shots. Okur hit some big shots. They made shots when they had to.”
O’Neal finished with 12 points and Jason Williams and Ricky Davis scored 15 apiece. Alonzo Mourning scored 13 hard-earned points against a physical Jazz club that saw its first defeat over Miami in the last seven tries.
“They played physical, good, hard-nosed, get-to-the-basket basketball,” O’Neal said. “We had some silly turnovers, and they capitalized on them almost every time.”
Andrei Kirilenko had yet another quiet near-triple-double with 10 points, nine assists and seven rebounds. Ronnie Brewer scored 17 points, most of them over Wade’s outstretched arms.
“Brewer’s a great young kid,” Wade said. “He’s got great upside to him. The game the he plays is very efficient for his team.”
With the loss, Miami falls to 4-13 and continues a disappointing season just two years removed from an NBA championship.
“I’m not frustrated. I just want to turn it around,” said Wade, who rejoined the Heat on Nov. 14 after recovering from shoulder surgery. “I’ve been a pro for five years, so I understand — you can’t get down on your teammates, can’t get down on yourself. Just keep pushing.”
Utah Jazz head coach Jerry Sloan, who just signed a one-year extension with Utah that will keep him through the 2008-2009 season, seemed pleased with his team’s play in the closing minutes.
“We executed our offense pretty well and had a couple breaks where we stopped them a time or two,” Sloan said. “That’s pretty much the ball game.”
The Jazz face another struggling team tonight in Sacramento against the Kings (6-10). The Kings lost star guard Mike Bibby (torn thumb ligament) before the season began. Ron Artest returned from a seven-game suspension to give the team a boost and sharpshooter Kevin Martin is seventh in the league in scoring with a 24.5 average.