If they could feel the Mavericks breathing down their necks, the Jazz never showed it. They delivered an inspired performance, hitting the Hornets with a 41-point first quarter on the way to a 108-94 victory at New Orleans Arena.

The Jazz built a 30-point lead in the second quarter, survived a few anxious moments in the second half as New Orleans closed within nine, but held on to beat a Western Conference contender on the road for the first time all season.

"We saw Phoenix lost and we could clinch with another loss from them, but we don't want to wait on them," said Williams, who had 21 points and 11 assists and declared the Jazz's first half their best of the season.

"We want to control our own destiny, go ahead and get it. We're happy we're in the playoffs, but we're not happy being the eighth seed, so we want to try to climb."

With the injuries they suffered this season -- losing Williams for 13 games to a sprained ankle and Carlos Boozer for 44 games to knee surgery -- a playoff spot was anything but taken for granted.

The Jazz (47-30) snapped a three-game losing streak and swept the three-game season series against the Hornets. They remain a game ahead of Dallas, which rode an 81-point first half and Jason Kidd's 19 points and 20 assists to beat Phoenix 140-116.

"They won and they won big," Williams said. "They were a team on a mission. They're sitting where we are. They don't want to be in that eight spot. They want to try to climb up."

Maybe it was the pregame invocation -- in which a local reverend asked to bless the Hornets' "Honeybees" dance team -- but the Jazz's first quarter Sunday was like no other this season.

Ronnie Brewer (23 points) opened the game by hitting two jumpers to beat the shot clock and had 12 points on 6-for-6 shooting. Mehmet Okur dunked twice, had 13 points and pumped his fist after drilling a long jumper.

Which was more improbable? Brewer's jumpers or Okur's dunks? "I'm speechless right now," Williams said. "I think the fact that they both did it on the same night is the unthinkable."

Andrei Kirilenko's three-pointer gave the Jazz a 41-19 lead to end the quarter. They hit 19 of 25 shots (76 percent) with 12 assists and had Williams on his feet barking, "That's what I'm talking about" as his teammates came to the bench at the horn.

"Everybody talks about how slow starts we have," Brewer said, "but I think tonight in that first quarter, we came out hot, we were executing on offense, we were getting defensive stops and that led to easy baskets. We looked really good out there."

The Jazz took a 66-39 lead into halftime, but gave up 37 points in the third quarter. The Hornets scored on eight consecutive possessions and 11 of 13 to end the quarter, with the Jazz again in danger of crumbling with a big lead.

But Brevin Knight helped the Jazz reverse course after Williams picked up his fourth foul. Knight hit a jumper after New Orleans closed within nine and drew a charge to send Chris Paul (19 points, 12 assists) to the bench with his fifth foul 1:04 into the fourth.

"I thanked him after the game," Williams said. "I thought he came in and played great."

As disappointed as they were after dropping three games last week, especially Friday's loss to Minnesota, the Jazz were determined to atone Sunday as they opened a three-game trip. Brewer added that the Jazz still hadn't given up hope of a top-four seed.

"We knew we had to get one on the road," Williams said, "and this is a great way to start this road trip. Hopefully, it'll give us confidence and realize if we play like that every night, we can beat anybody."

rsiler@sltrib.com

? Storylines

In short ? Behind a 41-point first quarter, the Jazz beat New Orleans to clinch a playoff berth and stay ahead of Dallas.

Key moment ? Brevin Knight draws a charge to send Chris Paul to the bench with his fifth foul early in the fourth quarter.

Key stat ? The Jazz had been 0-11 on the road against Western Conference contenders before Sunday's victory.