SALT LAKE CITY (Ticker) -- The Utah Jazz showed the New Jersey Nets a thing or two about hard work.
Andrei Kirilenko and DeShawn Stevenson scored 18 points apiece and helped the Jazz dominate the backboards en route to a 91-84 victory over the Nets.
It was the fourth straight win for the surprising Jazz, who never trailed. They held the Nets to 39 percent shooting (28-of-72) and more than doubled their rebounding total.
"I've always said, you look at teams that are competitive, they have to rebound," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said. "It's not just one guy's job. Everybody got to be a part of it tonight."
Nobody helped the Nets, who dropped their third straight game to finish a 2-3 road trip. Playing for the second time in as many nights, New Jersey was outrebounded, 51-25.
"It's about effort right now," said Nets forward Richard Jefferson, who scored 10 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter. "We've got to make a concerted effort."
"We're just getting our (butts) kicked on a day-to-day basis in the rebounding department," coach Byron Scott added. "If it continues, it's gonna be a long season."
It's been a great season so far for the Jazz, who were supposed to struggle without Karl Malone and John Stockton. But they are just one-half game behind first-place Dallas in the Midwest Division.
"No matter who coach Sloan has, he's always going to have his guys playing hard," Nets point guard Jason Kidd said.
The two-time reigning Eastern Conference champion Nets limp home with a 7-10 mark, good for second place in the porous Atlantic Division. They started their trip with wins against Seattle and the Los Angeles Clippers before dropping three in a row.
"You've got to find positives," Jefferson said. "We've come to the West before and lost all four - I think twice. We've just got to continue to play hard. That's all we can really do right now."
The Nets played hard against Utah. To their credit, they rebounded from a 19-point deficit to get within three in the final minute. But the early hole was too much from which to escape.
"Every now and then in this league, you can did yourself a hole and come back and win one," Kidd said. "But it's not going to happen on a constant basis."
The Jazz raced to a 12-2 lead and never looked back. They gradually pulled away, leading 22-16 after the first quarter and 38-31 at halftime.
Six different players scored during a 14-4 run that made it 64-45 with 3:19 to play in the third. The Nets clawed within 87-84 on a 3-pointer by Jefferson with 35.5 seconds remaining, but couldn't score again.
"We can't afford to spot a team 15, 16 points and then start playing basketball," Scott said. "It's too hard."
