PHOENIX -- Guard Rodney Hood epitomized the philosophy of the Utah Jazz on Sunday: A slow start doesn't necessarily mean a bad finish.

Hood, who missed all six of his shots in Utah's miserable first quarter, regrouped and hit six 3-pointers in the final three quarter as the Jazz overcame the early stumble to beat the Phoenix Suns 101-86 on Sunday.

Hood finished 6-for-12 from 3-point range and got plenty of help as Gordon Hayward scored 22 points and Derrick Favors added 17 as Utah kept pace in the tight race for the final two Western Conference playoff spots.

"I don't have a conscience anymore," Hood said. "Early in the season I did, but they want me to shoot the open shot. The first five shots I had we as open as I've been all season and they just didn't go down. But I kept being aggressive. My teammates told me to keep shooting and they started to go down."

Utah (39-38) stayed tied with the Dallas Mavericks, who beat the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday, for seventh spot in the conference. Both teams remained a game ahead of the Houston Rockets (38-39), who beat Oklahoma City on Sunday.

"You make yourself crazy following other teams but that's the way it is," said Utah coach Quinn Snyder after the Jazz snuck over the .500 mark for the first time since they were 26-25 on Feb. 9. "We're as young as they come and to be .500 at this point in the year is a successful season in and of itself. Hopefully we can get a few more games over."

Utah swept the season series from Phoenix (4-0) for only the second time in franchise history (1999-2000) and has won seven of the past nine games with Phoenix. The Jazz won each game by an average of 19.7 points, holding the Suns to an average of 83 points.

Tyson Chandler had 21 points and 18 rebounds for the Suns (20-57), who played without guard Brandon Knight (sports hernia) and Jon Leuer (ankle).

Devin Booker and P. J. Tucker had 14 points each for the Suns, who have lost six games in a row, the fourth losing streak of at least six games this season. Center Alex Len missed all eight shots from the field was a minus-21 in 35 minutes.

"This is the NBA. You don't create point guards overnight," Phoenix coach Earl Watson said. "Tyson had a great game, but Devin Booker was 5-for-15 and for Devin to be efficient, we have to find a way to engage and uplift Alex Len. He will never be out-toughed, but he can be out-experienced."

Mirza Teletovic led Phoenix with 24 points including three 3-pointers. Teletovic now has 162 3-pointers off the bench this season, two shy of the all-time NBA record for a reserve set by Chuck Person of the San Antonio Spurs in 1994-95 (164).

The Jazz got off to a slow start, missing 13 of their first 15 shots from the field and falling behind by as many as 10 points. Utah stayed that close because the Suns had six turnovers while the Jazz had none. Teletovic had three first-half 3-pointers and second one gave the Suns a 19-9 lead. Phoenix led 23-16 after one quarter and the Jazz finished 6-for-23 from the field, including Hood's slow start.

After a Teletovic 3-pointer gave the Suns a 28-20 lead with 10:39 left, Phoenix missed 14 consecutive shots, committed five more turnovers. The Jazz used their defense to reel off a 24-2 run, allowing only two John Jenkins free throws during the next 9:22 as Utah took control.

"Teams are being more aggressive on pick-and-rolls and a lot of teams are trapping us," Booker said. "We're missing our two primary point guards, Brandon and Eric (Bledsoe). We can't use that as an excuse. We've just got to keep working and grinding for next year."

Favors had eight points and Hood had six during the run, and Mack's 3-pointer with 1:17 left in the half put the Jazz up 44-30. Utah made 12 of 19 shots in the quarter, outscored the Suns 30-10 in the quarter and led 46-33 at the half.

"We started guarding, honestly," said Hayward, who topped 20 points for the third straight game. "We started playing really good defense and we scored off our defense and got it going."

The Suns opened the third quarter with a 16-7 run with highlighted by three P.J. Tucker's 3-pointers, the last of which cut the Utah back to 53-49 with 7:28 left. Tucker finished with 14 points and nine rebounds.

But Utah answered right back with a 13-4 rally over the next three-plus minutes, with Hood's fourth 3-pointer of the game restoring the Jazz lead to 66-53 with 4:01 to go. The Jazz stretched their lead to as many as 20 at 99-79 in the fourth quarter.

NOTES: Suns G Brandon Knight missed his 25th game of the season for Phoenix. His availability for the rest of the season is questionable. Knight joins Eric Bledsoe (51) and TJ Warren (34) as Suns who will miss at least 25 games this season. ... F Derrick Favors was back in the starting lineup after missing a game with a sore knee. ... The Suns have had 50 or more rebounds in 19 games this season, the most since the 1992-93 Western Conference champion team also had 19. ... The Jazz were looking for their second four-game sweep of the Suns in the history of the series and the first since the 1999-2000 season. The Suns have swept the Jazz four times, most recently in 2010-11. ... The Suns had three players with double-doubles in consecutive games (P.J. Tucker, Tyson Chandler and Mirza Teletovic on Friday against Washington and Tucker, Chandler and Alex Len on Wednesday in Milwaukee) for the first time since 1989. ... The Jazz had held 13 of their last 15 opponent under 100 points, going 10-5 over that span.