SALT LAKE CITY -- George Hill did not resemble a player who had been sidelined several weeks with a sprained toe. In his return to the Utah Jazz starting lineup, Hill did not disappoint.

The veteran point guard gave his team a boost during a pivotal fourth quarter run against the Philadelphia 76ers. Hill did a little bit of everything in leading Utah to a 100-83 victory over the Sixers on Thursday night. He scored 13 of his 21 points over the final 12 minutes to go along with eight rebounds and six assists.

Hill didn't enter the fourth quarter with a goal of taking over. His main purpose was to be a leader and give a steadying presence on the court after the Jazz slogged through the first three quarters. All of the baskets simply came as an outgrowth of those efforts.

"I'm not going to be the type to go out there and say, 'Hey, I got to shoot 20 times to go get averages or whatever," Hill said. "I don't really care about that. I'm just taking the shots when they're available and just being out there trying to be a floor general. Make the game easier for everyone else and run our offense."

Gordon Hayward and Rodney Hood added 20 points apiece to help the Jazz pull away for their second consecutive victory. Utah (20-13) got it done on both ends of the court in the fourth quarter.

Offensively, the Jazz totaled 30 points on 11-of-19 shooting. Utah hit 50 percent from the perimeter over the final 12 minutes. Defensively, the Jazz limited Philadelphia (7-24) to nine points on 4-of-23 shooting over the same stretch.

"They weren't just out there," Utah coach Quin Snyder said. "They were out there with a purpose. We had intent. We were committed to each possession. That's how you have to be if you're going to sustain anything. It's not good enough to do well for a few possessions. It's not good enough to do well for a quarter, unless you want to be just average."

Ersan Ilyasova had 16 points and 12 rebounds to lead Philadelphia. Nerlens Noel and Dario Saric chipped in 14 points apiece off the bench.

Noel had a season high in both points (14) and minutes played (22). His role has been limited after falling out of the Sixers' rotation because of injuries earlier in the season.

"I felt alright," Noel said. "I went through some stretches where I was able to keep it up, especially in this altitude and getting up and down. I thought Coach (Brown) did a good job of keeping his eye on me."

The Sixers outscored Utah 42-24 in the paint, but could not put anything together on offense when the game was on the line.

Trailing by four points after three quarters, Utah raced away by outscoring the Sixers 21-2 over the first six minutes of the fourth period. Hood ignited the run with back-to-back baskets that gave the Jazz the lead for good. Hill finished it off with a pull-up jumper, putting Utah up 91-76 with 5:57 remaining.

"They played outstanding defense," Sixers coach Brett Brown said. "Our perimeter play struggled. I thought our interior players had an overall good game, but I thought our perimeter players struggled to try and find ways to make some shots. We got jumped at the start of the period and they continued on with that."

Utah sprinted out front in the first quarter behind 3-pointers from Hayward and Rodney Hood. The Jazz eventually took a 22-14 lead after Boris Diaw made a layup and Rudy Gobert followed with a dunk one possession later.

Philadelphia rallied and closed out the quarter on a 10-0 run. The Sixers took their first lead when Hollis Thompson banked in a 3-pointer to make it 24-22.

Both teams traded baskets and the lead throughout a second quarter featuring six lead changes. Utah pulled ahead for the last time in the half when Hayward converted a three-point play to give the Jazz a 44-42 lead. Okafor answered by driving for a layup on the other end, and Saric then scored back-to-back baskets to put Philadelphia ahead 49-44 with 1:32 left before halftime.

The Sixers dominated in the paint to match Utah blow for blow. Philadelphia held a 32-10 advantage over the Jazz in points in the paint in the first half.

Utah went ahead 61-58 in the third quarter on back-to-back baskets from Hill and Gobert. The Jazz later took a 70-69 lead on back-to-back baskets from Hayward. Each time, the Sixers answered. They took a 74-70 lead into the fourth quarter after Sergio Rodriguez answered Hayward's 3-pointer with one of his own and Nerlens Noel followed with a dunk on the next possession.

The Sixers shot 48 percent from the field over the first three quarters before Utah finally shut them down cold.

"We think we can be one of the better defensive teams in the league," Hill said. "We knew our time would come. We knew all we had to do is string a couple of stops together and let that defense carry to our offense."

NOTES: G George Hill returned to the Utah starting lineup after missing 13 games with a sprained toe. ... Sixers C Joel Embiid (rest) and G Gerald Henderson (left hip) were both sidelined. ... Utah G Joe Ingles was averaging 9.8 points per game and shooting 53.7 percent from the perimeter in December before Thursday. He made 1 of 2 long-range attempts against the 76ers and scored three points. ... Philadelphia F Ersan Ilyasova has made at least one 3-pointer in 28 consecutive games, the second longest streak in the NBA this season. ... Utah C Rudy Gobert's streak of 11 consecutive double-doubles ended Thursday when he had nine points and 13 rebounds. It was the longest streak by a Utah player since Paul Millsap recorded 19 straight in 2008-09.