MEHMET OKUR had 22 points and 17 rebounds to help the Utah Jazz clinch their second straight Northwest Division and snap the Hornets’ 11-game home winning streak, 77-66, in New Orleans on Tuesday night.

Deron Williams had 16 assists and outplayed Chris Paul as the Jazz took a 20-point lead early in the fourth quarter and cruised from there.

Even with the division crown, the Jazz still had only the fifth-best record in the Western Conference, half a game behind Houston, meaning the Jazz have not yet sealed up home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

No one in the Jazz locker room complained, however.

“That’s on us. If we keep playing the way we are, we could end up having the home court,” Williams said.

The Jazz have played extraordinary defense in their past two games, holding San Antonio to 64 points in a blowout victory Friday.

“We’re trying to get sharpened up for the playoffs,” said Jazz forward Carlos Boozer, who had 10 points. “We didn’t shoot the ball very well tonight but we played good enough defense to win the game and for us that’s a bigger sign. If we can play defense like this and like the way we played against San Antonio, we’re going to have some more wins.”

Peja Stojakovic scored 15 points for New Orleans, which shot a woeful 3-of-14 on 3-pointers and 37 percent overall as its five-game winning streak ended. David West had 14 points.

Paul had a rare off night, finishing with nine assists and only four points on 2-of-11 shooting.

“It was the first time in a long time that I can remember that we just couldn’t make shots on a consistent basis,” Hornets coach Byron Scott said. “I don’t remember us being that cold for an entire game. Again, you have to give (Utah) credit on defense, but we just couldn’t knock down the shots.”(SD-Agencies)