Tempers Are Short as Jazz Fights Off the Knicks

John Stockton had several stitches next to his eye, Karl Malone had an ice pack on his hamstring, and Chris Morris and Jerry Sloan were sore at each other.

Such was the aftermath of the Utah Jazz’s 110-99 victory over the New York Knicks Tuesday night at Salt Lake City in a physical game that featured nine technical fouls, a flagrant foul and several cheap shots.

“The Knicks play a game where they try to get away with pushing and shoving and playing physical, and most teams won’t respond to it,” Utah’s Jeff Hornacek said. “But we knew our team wasn’t going to back down, and I think they didn’t anticipate us fighting back like that.”

Malone scored 33 points and Hornacek 21.

Utah had 17 steals, including five by Stockton, four by Malone and three by Bryon Russell. Greg Ostertag contributed 13 points, 13 rebounds and six blocked shots.

Patrick Ewing had 28 points and John Starks 21 for New York.

Seattle 72, Cleveland 66--The SuperSonics outscored the Cavaliers by 14 points at the foul line at Cleveland to win one of the lowest-scoring games in NBA history.

The 138 combined points were the seventh-fewest since the shot clock was introduced in the 1954-55 season.

Despite recording a season-low point total, the SuperSonics made 24 of 29 free throws, including 10 of 10 by Hersey Hawkins, and won their seventh consecutive game.

Toronto 124, Denver 122--Damon Stoudamire scored nine of his 35 points in overtime as the Raptors squandered a lead in the last 48 seconds of regulation time at Denver before rallying.

Doug Christie scored 27 points and had a team-record nine steals for the Raptors.

New Jersey 97, Sacramento 90--Sam Cassell had two baskets and two assists in an early fourth-quarter run and the Nets held the Kings scoreless in the final 4:46 at East Rutherford, N.J.

Dallas 86, Charlotte 84--Rookie Erick Strickland scored a career-high 17 points, including two free throws with 3.9 seconds left at Dallas, as the Mavericks ended the Hornets’ five-game win streak.

Strickland is a former CBA player who signed a 10-day contract with Dallas on Feb. 15 before it was extended for the rest of the season.

Washington 108, Indiana 87--Juwan Howard scored 20 of his 28 points in the first half as the Bullets built a 21-point lead and cruised past the Pacers at Landover, Md.