A flagrant foul by Dirk Nowitzki sent Kirilenko to the locker room with a right hip injury. He later was wheeled out of EnergySolutions Arena and taken to the hospital, where X-rays confirmed he had suffered a sprain instead of any broken bones.

His teammates, meanwhile, could only watch as the Mavericks erased what had been a 21-point lead in the first quarter and pushed in front during the fourth. But the Jazz responded with a 16-0 run to take back a game in which their resolve was tested like no other.

It was enough for the Jazz to win their 16th consecutive home game, three shy of the franchise record, and improve to 26-3 this season at home. Deron Williams finished with 17 points and 20 assists and the Jazz (39-22) pulled even with Dallas in the standings.

"The rest of these games are going to be big,'' Carlos Boozer said. "Each game has so much implication on playoff position. Each game is going to be physical, it's going to be aggressive. You're going to see teams almost fighting for everything.

"That's what playoff basketball was like. You guys remember the playoffs last year. That's what it's going to be like, so this is good preparation for us before April gets here."

Kirilenko returned to the arena before the game's conclusion but left without talking to reporters. He will be reevaluated today but the belief is that he will be out about a week and the Jazz avoided what would have been their first serious injury all season.

With 7:04 left in the first quarter, Williams fired a pass to Kirilenko, who was open around the basket. Kirilenko dribbled once as Nowitzki went up to block his shot, but the Dallas forward came down on Kirilenko's right shoulder and jerked him to the floor.

Nowitzki was assessed a first-degree flagrant foul while Kirilenko remained down for a couple anxious minutes. He came up limping and stayed in the game to sink two free throws but doubled over almost immediately after.

He was replaced by Matt Harpring and hobbled to the locker room, where a crowd had assembled by the end of the quarter. Kirilenko emerged from the locker room three minutes into the second quarter in a cart and left for the hospital.

"Obviously, things went so fast,'' Nowitzki said. "I didn't mean to grab the neck, but I tried to hold him so he doesn't score. I happened to grab his neck and it was a bad fall. It was a bad situation. I felt bad but these things happen. Hopefully, he'll be OK."

Nowitzki finished with 23 points but was booed every time he touched the ball the rest of the night. Once Dallas took the lead in the fourth quarter, Nowitzki committed three turnovers and compounded his frustration with a technical foul as the Jazz made their run.

After a series of shaky starts in recent games, the Jazz scored on their first five possessions on their way to a 25-6 lead. But the Mavericks fought back the rest of the night and took a 92-89 lead with 6:29 to play as Jason Kidd followed his earlier three-pointer with a 23-footer.

The Jazz responded, though, as Williams drove and slid the ball to Boozer (28 points) for a layup. Mehmet Okur blocked Jason Terry's layup bid and Williams shoveled a pass to Kyle Korver for a three-pointer on the fast break to make it 98-92.

Those were Williams' 19th and 20th assists of the game, one shy of his career high as well as the NBA season high. He had 14 assists in the first half, one off John Stockton's franchise record, and has totaled 39 assists the last two games.

The Jazz had a combination of five steals and blocks during their run, with Boozer twice stripping Nowitzki. They scored the last seven points of the run at the foul line and went 18-for-18 in the fourth quarter, making their final 24 free throws of the game.

rsiler@sltrib.com

Storylines

IN SHORT: The Jazz lost Andrei Kirilenko to a hip injury and withstood Dallas' comeback from 21 points down to win their 16th consecutive home game.

KEY MOMENT: After Mehmet Okur blocked Jason Terry at one end, Deron Williams pushed ahead and shoveled a pass to Kyle Korver for a three-pointer to make it 98-92.

KEY STAT: Williams matched his season high with 20 assists and had six in the first 5:33 as the Jazz raced to a 25-6 lead. The most in the NBA this season is 21 by Chris Paul.

All-time franchise record home winning streaks

19: Jan. 19, 1996 to March 29, 1996

19: Dec. 13, 1989 to March 3, 1990

17: Nov. 9, 1991 to Jan. 22, 1992

16: Dec. 31, 2007 to present

Miller metric

The Jazz use a formula devised by owner Larry Miller to evaluate NBA players' value. How the Metric is determined: Add points, rebounds, steals, blocks and assists. Subtract fouls, turnovers and shots taken. Divide by minutes played. Against Dallas:

Kirilenko .800

Okur .585

Williams .422

Boozer .394

Korver .375

Brewer .333

Harpring .178

Hart .093

Miles .071

Millsap .000

Price -.150

Jazz 116, Mavericks 110

Jazz 116, Mavericks 110

FG FT Reb

DALLAS Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts

JoHoward 37:11 9-13 7-8 1-4 2 5 25

Nowitzki 38:07 8-17 6-6 1-7 1 5 23

Dampier 25:30 2-3 2-4 2-5 0 4 6

Kidd 40:00 5-10 6-7 0-4 9 3 19

Terry 34:13 7-15 5-5 0-0 2 3 21

Bass 15:13 1-3 0-0 0-2 1 2 2

Stackhouse 11:48 1-4 0-0 0-3 2 0 2

George 24:02 4-7 3-4 3-4 1 1 12

Magloire 5:06 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Allen 6:15 0-1 0-0 0-2 0 0 0

JuHoward 2:37 0-1 0-0 0-1 0 0 0

Totals 240:02 37-74 29-34 7-32 18 23 110

Percentages: FG .500, FT .853. Three-Point Goals: 7-17, .412 (Kidd 3-4, Terry 2-5, George 1-3, Nowitzki 1-3, Jo.Howard 0-1, Stackhouse 0-1). Team Rebounds: 9. Team Turnovers: 14 (23 PTS). Blocked Shots: 3 (Bass 2, George). Turnovers: 14 (Nowitzki 6, Jo.Howard 3, Dampier 2, Kidd 2, Magloire). Steals: 4 (Kidd 3, Stackhouse). Technical Fouls: Nowitzki, 3:13 fourth. Flagrant Fouls: Nowitzki, 7:04 first.

FG FT Reb

UTAH Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts

Kirilenko 4:56 1-2 2-2 1-1 0 0 4

Boozer 38:28 12-19 4-4 1-7 4 6 28

Okur 41:14 7-10 6-9 2-12 2 3 20

Williams 45:21 7-17 2-2 0-5 20 4 17

Brewer 24:00 5-8 4-4 1-2 0 1 15

Harpring 28:08 2-4 5-5 1-3 1 3 9

Millsap 16:18 3-3 0-0 0-0 1 4 6

Price 2:18 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 3 0

Korver 24:00 4-10 7-7 0-1 0 1 17

Miles 14:56 0-2 0-0 1-4 1 3 0

Hart 0:21 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Totals 240:00 41-77 30-33 7-35 29 28 116

Percentages: FG .532, FT .909. Three-Point Goals: 4-16, .250 (Korver 2-5, Brewer 1-2, Williams 1-5, Kirilenko 0-1, Miles 0-1, Okur 0-2). Team Rebounds: 5. Team Turnovers: 11 (15 PTS). Blocked Shots: 6 (Korver 2, Okur 2, Williams 2). Turnovers: 11 (Williams 4, Boozer 2, Harpring 2, Brewer, Miles, Price). Steals: 9 (Boozer 3, Miles 2, Brewer, Harpring, Kirilenko, Okur). Technical Fouls: Defensive three second, 4:30 third.

Dallas 24 26 31 29 -110

Utah 37 27 23 29 -116

A - 19,911 (19,911). T - 2:21. Officials: Scott Foster, David Jones, Matt Boland.