Memo Okur was driving Wednesday night.

The Jazz went along for the ride.

Okur scored a season-high 28 points on 11-for-13 shooting to lead Utah to a 118-105 victory over Portland at EnergySolutions Arena.

Okur didn't bury the Blazers from the three-point line.

Instead, he willingly put the ball on the floor and got to the basket.

The strategy paid huge dividends for the Jazz, who shot 62.7 percent. They have scored more than 118 points only three times this season.

"He took the ball inside a couple of times ... and found himself open for easy baskets," coach Jerry Sloan said. "I think that gave him confidence."

Okur got the Jazz started with a drive-and-dunk less than two minutes into the game.

He needed only one three-pointer in 33 minutes to get his 28 points.

"I was able to mix up my game," Okur said. "I didn't want to settle for jumpers. ... I looked to be active at the beginning -- get to the free-throw line [and] get my confidence a little bit. It really worked out for me tonight."

Okur scored eight points in the first quarter and 14 in the first half. He opened third quarter with back-to-back field goals -- both from close to the basket.

"That's one of the things the [assistant] coaches have worked with him on," Sloan said. "... It makes him a lot more effective."

Okur's final points came with 53.3 seconds left and sealed the victory.

Portland had rallied from a 16-point deficit to make it 111-103. But he drove, scored and was fouled.

Okur completed the three-point play with a free throw, putting an exclamation point on his highest-scoring game since Nov. 2 against Houston.

In that one, he scored 21 points.

"He's expanded his game a lot," said Deron Williams. "Earlier in his career he was just a shooter. But he's got a lot better back-to-the-basket game now. He knows how to get his momentum going and stretch guys out and drive by them. He's doing a great job with that."

Meanwhile, Sloan liked the job Okur did on defense against Portland's LaMarcus Aldridge, who finished with 28 points but missed 10 of his 18 shots.

"He had a tough match-up with Aldridge," Sloan said. "But I thought he did a pretty good job. We had different guys on him. Andrei [Kirilenko] guarded him some. Paul [Millsap] guarded him some. ... I thought Memo played him about as well as you can."

luhm@sltrib.com