Jazz, Russell Get Last Laugh on SuperSonics

Bryon Russell saved the Utah Jazz. No joke.

He has gone from shooting 22.2% in the first two games of these Western Conference finals and playing all of seven minutes in the previous outing to 24 points and 10 rebounds as a reserve Friday night, maybe even to the starting lineup come Sunday. So, too, have gone the Jazz, from an 0-2 deficit to a 96-76 victory over the Seattle SuperSonics in Game 3 before 19,911 at the Delta Center.

This wasn’t your normal game, or at least from the 7:20 mark of the first quarter, when Rodney Dangerfield walked onto the court during a timeout and launched into a mini-routine.

His weren’t even the most out-of-place one-liners. How about the SuperSonics committing 27 turnovers, only three fewer than the previous two games combined and about nine more than their regular-season average? Or Utah’s John Stockton being shut down for the third time in as many outings and missing five of eight free throws, one of the many areas in which he usually excels? Or the Jazz going from a 30-point loss in the opener and a botched fourth quarter in Game 2 to a resounding victory when the series shifted to Salt Lake City?

Or how about Russell, from San Bernardino by way of Long Beach State? He’s the one with the real stand-up effort.

“If we’re lucky, Bryon Russell will have a broken arm in an auto accident today,” Seattle Coach George Karl said. “Just kidding.”

Karl Malone and Jeff Hornacek both had a game-high 28 points and Malone also led all players with 18 rebounds, but the Jazz wouldn’t have won without Russell’s 24 and 10, along with three steals and one blocked shot. He is supposed to be a defensive specialist, after all.

“We think he’s a stopper, but we kind of wish he’d let us say it,” Malone said. “He likes to pat his own back.

“I knew he was gonna tell you he’s a stopper, because he loves to talk about himself. He should have been a politician, though. You know how politicians love to talk about themselves.”

Instead, he may be a starting small forward. Russell held that role for nine games during the regular season, about the time it was being passed around among himself, Chris Morris and David Benoit, with no one able to grab hold.

That’s how it has been this series. Morris has been in the opening lineup, but mostly by default, contributing only 7.5 points and 42.9% shooting the first two games and getting dominated by counterpart Detlef Schrempf. At 22.2%, Russell was still good enough to get the second-most minutes there, what with Benoit at 18.2%.

Then came Friday.

Morris looked only slightly better than Dangerfield in the offense, so Russell, despite his own struggles in other games, got a quick call, playing five minutes in the first quarter. He played all of the second, finishing the first half with 12 points and four rebounds.

“When he left me out,” Russell said of Coach Jerry Sloan, “things started happening. Things just fell into place.”

That was pretty much the last anyone saw of Morris--he played 12 minutes in all and only three after intermission--but the SuperSonics were not going to disappear so easily. Down by 13 points early in the fourth quarter, they had pulled to within 80-74 with 6:08 to play.

Shawn Kemp had foul trouble, but was causing trouble inside and getting to the line.

Jazz heroes stepped forward from there. Malone dunked. Russell made a three-point basket. A couple of possessions later, Malone connected on a fallaway, which was followed by one free throw from Stockton, part of his seven points and six assists.

It was a regular rout to snap the SuperSonics’ eight-game winning streak. A laugher.