Jazz 98, Suns 89
PHOENIX -- Guard Rodney Hood scored 25 points and forward Gordon Hayward had 14 of his 22 points in the first quarter as the Utah Jazz won their sixth straight game, a 98-89 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Saturday.
Guard Raul Neto and center Rudy Gobert added 13 points each and forward Derrick Favors had 11 points for the Jazz, whose winning streak is a season high. They have reached the .500 mark (24-24) for the first time since they were 10-10 on Dec. 10.
Guard Devin Booker had a team-high 18 points and forward Markieff Morris had 17 points, eight assists and seven rebounds for the Suns (14-38), who have lost 22 of their past 24 games overall. Forward Mirza Teletovic had 15 points and guard Archie Goodwin had 14 for Phoenix, who has had losing streaks of nine, six, and now seven during the current tailspin.
Phoenix fell behind 19 points in the first quarter and trailed by as many as 23 and 71-58 after three quarters. They won the other three quarters and pulled to as close as six points at 94-88 on a 3-pointer by Booker with 1:34 left.
The Suns went the first 4:30 without a point and the Jazz scored the first 10, the last five by Hood. Utah ended the period on an 11-2 run with Hayward, who outscored Phoenix by himself in the first quarter with 14, hitting a six-footer with 26.9 seconds left to give Utah a 31-12 lead.
The Suns missed 17 of 22 shots in the period and had almost as many technical fouls (three) as baskets (five).
Phoenix made a brief run in the second period, with a driving layup by Morris cutting the Utah lead to 36-25 with 4:28 left. But the Jazz answered quickly and Neto's 3-pointer off a Hayward assist with 1.8 seconds left restored the lead 53-35 at the half.
The Jazz pushed their lead to as many as 23 in the third quarter, when Hood's nine-foot floater made it 65-42 Utah with 6:54 left. The Suns ended the quarter with 13-4 run and two free throws by Goodwin with 24.1 seconds left closed the gap to 71-58.
NOTES: Utah G Trey Burke (flu-like symptoms) did not travel with the team. ... Suns interim coach Earl Watson, who was a teammate of Gordon Hayward's in Utah: "I remember the first day of practice when he was a rookie, Raja Bell was the starting two-guard and he close-lined him, dropped him. Gordon jumps right back up, so quick, as if to say, 'I won't be intimidated, I'm going to be here for long time. I'm here to fight my way into a position." ... Devin Booker had reached double figures in 11 straight games, the first Suns rookie to do so since Michael Finley did so in 23 straight games from Jan. 11-Feb. 23, 1996. Walter Davis reached double figures in all 81 games he played during his rookie season (1977-78). ... With T.J. Warren (foot) done for the season, the Suns signed G Orlando Johnson to a 10-day contract on Friday. Johnson was averaging 15.2 points with the Austin Spurs of the NBA Developmental League. ... The Suns have lost at least six games in a row three times during their 2-21 tailspin. Every other NBA team has at least five wins during that span.