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SEATTLE – Devin Brown knows eventually Utah will be back at full strength. Until then, the Jazz need a collective effort like Tuesday night.

Mehmet Okur had 24 points and nine rebounds, and Utah’s bench chipped in with 36 points as the short-handed Jazz held off a furious rally to beat the Seattle SuperSonics 93-87.

The Jazz won consecutive games for the first time since starting the season 2-0. Utah also won both ends of a back-to-back for the first time this season after losing their first four.

“When a team hits a fourth quarter run like that … to weather that storm and get through it, it builds character on this team. Especially with so many young guys,” Brown said.

It didn’t come easily for the Jazz, who put together another strong defensive performance after limiting Milwaukee to 80 points on Monday night. Utah held the SuperSonics 12 points below their season average and harassed All-Star guard Ray Allen into a 2-for-10 shooting performance on 3-pointers.

Allen missed his final five shot attempts, including four 3-pointers. His 25-footer rimmed off with 14 seconds left and ended Seattle’s hopes of rallying from a 13-point deficit with less than 6 minutes left.

“I think we lost tonight by disrespecting our opponents,” Seattle coach Bob Weiss said.

Gordan Giricek added 17 points for the Jazz, who made 15 of 30 shots in the second half, and had assists on 20 of their 32 total field goals.

Rashard Lewis led Seattle with 26 points and Allen added 24, and both shot 8-for-20. Seattle had its three-game winning streak snapped and failed in its first chance to climb above .500 this season.

Unlike those previous three victories, a third scorer did not develop for Seattle to help carry the offensive load. Mateen Cleaves had nine points off the bench and Nick Collison and Luke Ridnour had eight, but no other Seattle player scored more than five points.

“We got beat on hustle plays, we got beat on second-chance plays. We got beat on small little plays and that’s hard for me to swallow,” Allen said. “Sometimes you put yourself in some funky situations and sometimes you’ve got to get out of them. We’ve got to stop doing that.”

Meanwhile, Utah received significant contributions from its bench while rookie point guard Deron Williams suffered through a miserable shooting performance. Coming off consecutive double-doubles, Williams went 0-for-8, managing just four points. He did have seven assists and six rebounds.

Milt Palacio and Brown combined for 26 points off the bench — Palacio scoring 12 in 25 minutes and Brown adding 14 in 30 minutes. Utah’s bench outscored Seattle’s 36-20.

“Those guys, they’ve got experience and they’re getting an opportunity to play. They play really hard and played really well for us,” Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said.

The Jazz led by as many as 15 in the fourth quarter, but Seattle made one final rally. Down 84-71 with 5:10 left, Lewis made a 3-pointer, igniting a 10-2 run by the Sonics and pulling them to 86-81 with 2:35 left.

Reggie Evans got the rebound and scored after missing two free throws with 1:41 left, but Okur made just his second basket of the quarter, a 3-pointer with 1:26 left to give the Jazz an 89-83 lead.

Lewis scored and Allen made two free throws to get Seattle within 89-87, but Utah’s Jarron Collins got an offensive rebound and drew a foul on Collison with 19 seconds. He made both free throws to put the Jazz up 91-87, before Allen’s final miss.

“Home teams are always going to make that run at you,” Brown said. “Rashard Lewis and Ray Allen did a great job with that. They put a lot of pressure on us, but we withstood all that and got a great win.”

Utah’s Andrei Kirilenko, Matt Harpring and Keith McLeod all were out with injuries. Harpring scored 12 points Monday night against Milwaukee, but has been told he cannot play in back-to-back games because of offseason surgery on his right knee.

Notes

Injured Seattle Seahawks safety Ken Hamlin sat courtside. Hamlin was injured in a fight outside a Seattle nightclub early on Oct. 17.

Jazz 93, SuperSonics 87

Percentages: FG .471, FT .800. 3-Point Goals: 5-11, .455 (Okur 3-3, Giricek 1-2, Brown 1-3, Humphries 0-1, D.Williams 0-2). Team Turnovers: 14 (24 PTS). Blocked Shots: 4 (Ostertag 2, Brown, Palacio). Turnovers: 11 (D.Williams 4, Humphries 2, Palacio 2, Giricek, Okur, Ostertag). Steals: 4 (Brown 2, Okur, D.Williams).

Percentages: FG .382, FT .767. 3-Point Goals: 6-21, .286 (Lewis 3-5, Allen 2-10, Cleaves 1-2, Ridnour 0-1, Wilkins 0-1, Radmanovic 0-2). Team Turnovers: 11 (17 PTS). Blocked Shots: 2 (Collison, Petro). Turnovers: 11 (Radmanovic 3, Fortson 3, Petro 2, Potapenko, Ridnour, Cleaves). Steals: 5 (Allen 3, Lewis, Ridnour).

A—14,834 (17,072). T—2:16.