Deron Williams scored 11 of his 21 points in the last seven-plus minutes to lead Utah Jazz to recover for a 104-99 overtime victory over the Suns, whose playoff hopes took a crushing blow.

It was a demoralizing defeat for the Suns, who erased a 21-pointdeficit in the second half but squandered a pair of late leads.

Phoenix (40-33) fell 3 1/2 games behind Dallas (43-29) in the race for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

Even if the Suns win their last nine games, they would need the Mavericks to go 5-5 in their final 10 contests.

Meanwhile, the Jazz (45-27) won their 14th straight home game and remained two games behind first-place Denver in the race for the Northwest Division title.

The Suns trailed, 58-37, early in the third quarter rallied behind Jared Dudley, who scored 14 of his 15 points in an eight-minute span before a layup by Grant Hill gave Phoenix its first lead at 78-77with 5:07 left in the fourth quarter.

Eight points from Shaquille O'Neal built the bulge to 88-81 with2:11 left before Williams rallied the Jazz. He sank two foul shots, found Turkey's Mehmet Okur for a three-pointer and made a pair of jumpers to forge a 90-90 tie with 13 seconds to play.

Baskets by O'Neal and Jason Richardson opened overtime, but Okur hit a pair from the line and Williams converted a three-point play.

After Nash made a jumper, Russia's Andrei Kirilenko buried a three-pointer as he was fouled by Hill.

Kirilenko's free throw made it 99-96 with 2:19 left, and Williams hit four clutch free throws in the final minute to offset Nash's three-pointer.

Okur had 26 points and 11 rebounds, Carlos Boozer added 14 and 10and Williams had 13 assists for the Jazz, who avenged Wednesday's118-114 loss at Phoenix.

Nash scored 20 points, Hill added 19 and O'Neal 16 with 10rebounds for the Suns, who have dropped seven of their last eight road games.

Source:Xinhua