His players, however, had a doubleheader of sorts Saturday night, with a game to play against Seattle followed by a Deron Williams-hosted birthday party for Ronnie Brewer and C.J. Miles featuring the rapper Lil' Jon.

As much as it looked for a while like the only party would be on the SuperSonics' flight home, the Jazz were able to rally in the second half and start a new home winning streak with a 115-101 victory.

Mehmet Okur scored 19 of his 24 points in the second half and the Jazz pulled away in the fourth quarter before handing the microphone to Lil' Jon - decked out in sunglasses and a Williams jersey, with a gold rope hanging from his neck - to unofficially start the party with 4:56 to play.

"You get people like that coming out and get the crowd hyped," Carlos Boozer said, "it's a different atmosphere. We don't get that too much out in Utah. It was great to see him out there with us."

"It was cool, man,'' Williams added. "Lil' Jon's a great dude. We're going to have fun tonight."

In the thick of the Western Conference playoff race, the Jazz (46-25) couldn't afford a loss, especially with their 19-game home winning streak having come to an end Thursday against the L.A. Lakers.

But if Sloan had any problem with his players throwing such a large-scale party - tickets to the event at a downtown nightclub were available to the public for $25 - on a game night, the coach didn't say so afterward.

"I don't follow them around where they go,'' Sloan said. "That's a part of this business. They've got lives to live like everybody else. I don't follow them. I hope they recognize what's important to them, being able to play well. That's all I can ask."

Williams, who finished with 15 points and 14 assists, acknowledged that the Jazz had to win to avoid any possible repercussions. "Yeah, definitely," he said. "It probably would have been on coach's mind if we did lose this game."

The Jazz knew the Sonics would turn to a zone defense, but still struggled with it in the first half. Seattle scored the last 11 points of the first quarter and led 61-52 at halftime, with Utah going 1-for-11 from three-point range.

"We just didn't have anything going for us in the first half,'' Williams said.

Almost certainly the Jazz were expecting an easier time with the 16-54 Sonics. Saturday's loss was Seattle's 11th in a row and 15th in the last 16 games. The Sonics had given up 168 points (not a misprint) to Denver on Sunday and hadn't held a team under 100 since Feb. 22.

The difference maker turned out to be Okur, who was a changed player to start the third quarter after going just 2-for-8 in the first half. He scored 14 points in just 4:20 as the Jazz quickly erased Seattle's lead.

Not only did he drill two three-pointers, Okur also cut to the basket to earn two trips to the foul line. Another two times he faked a shot and put the ball on the floor, hitting a 10-foot runner as well as a short jumper.

"That's what I'm looking for every night,'' Okur said.

It was Okur's second game back after a bout with a stomach virus that forced him to leave Monday's victory over Toronto. "It's hard to play under those conditions,'' Williams said. "I think he's feeling a little bit better now and came out aggressive and we like to see that."

The Jazz got going one after another - from Okur to Boozer to Matt Harpring - in the second half. They went into the fourth quarter with just an 85-81 lead but broke open the game as Kyle Korver and Okur connected on three-pointers.

The only thing left was for the Jazz to get Lil' Jon out of his front-row seat and onto the court during the fourth-quarter timeout. The Jazz were still doing their best imitations of the rapper after the game, but Okur was planning to skip the party.

"I'm going home and rest,'' Okur said. "Fair enough."

rsiler@sltrib.com