Early Celebration Hurts Celtics Against the Jazz

The Utah Jazz thought the Boston Celtics did a little too much celebrating about their 18-point lead at Salt Lake City.

The Jazz made them pay.

Karl Malone had 31 points and 12 rebounds as Utah came back to defeat Boston, 118-100, Thursday night.

Boston dominated Utah in the first half, forcing 16 turnovers and making 19 of 21 foul shots on the way to a 58-45 halftime lead.

“We saw them over there getting happy,” said Bryon Russell, who had 17 points. “That got us going.”

The Celtics still led, 71-60, when Utah Coach Jerry Sloan was ejected with 5:51 left in the third quarter for picking up his second technical foul.

Utah made an immediate, 12-3, run and outscored Boston, 57-29, from that point on. Malone had 18 of his points in the second half.

“We played well for three quarters,” said Chauncey Billups, who had 15 points and nine assists for Boston. “When we get to the point where we can play like that for four quarters, we’ll start turning some heads.”

Portland 115, Phoenix 110--Gary Trent matched his career-high with 27 points and rookie Alvin Williams, starting in place of the suspended Isaiah Rider, had 19 for the Trail Blazers at Phoenix.

Rasheed Wallace, who made two key free throws in the final minute, finished with 18 points and Arvydas Sabonis added 14 points and 13 rebounds for the Trail Blazers. Phoenix’s Cliff Robinson had season-highs of 31 points and 15 rebounds against his former team.

Houston 112, Vancouver 103--Matt Maloney scored a season-high 24 points as the Rockets rallied at Vancouver to hand the Grizzlies their seventh consecutive loss.

Clyde Drexler added 25, including 17 in the second half, as the Rockets won consecutive games for the first time in almost two months and got back to .500 (24-24) for the first time since they were 18-18 on Jan. 19.

The Rockets won despite losing starting swingman Mario Elie, who went out with a left ankle sprain with 7:26 left in the third quarter. Elie suffered the injury when he stepped on Vancouver guard Sam Mack’s foot while driving to the basket.

The Grizzlies, playing their first game since the All-Star break, were led by Shareef Abdur-Rahim’s 16 points.

Sacramento 87, Denver 84--Mitch Richmond made eight consecutive free throws in the final 1:38 and finished with 27 points as the Kings defeated the Nuggets at Sacramento.

After Dean Garrett tied the score at 83-83 on two free throws with 37 seconds remaining, Richmond was fouled going to the basket. He made two free throws as the Kings regained the lead for good with 24.6 seconds left.

On Denver’s next possession, LaPhonso Ellis was fouled and made one free throw.

Richmond, the league’s sixth-leading free-throw shooter who had 11 fourth-quarter points, made two more free throws as Sacramento led, 87-84, with 5.6 seconds remaining.

Denver’s Anthony Goldwire missed a desperation three-point shot with two seconds left and Richmond secured the rebound to end the game.

Cleveland 103, Toronto 94--Wesley Person scored 28 points and Shawn Kemp had 27, including six key free throws in the last three minutes, as the Cavaliers defeated the Raptors at Toronto.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas added 24 points and 14 rebounds for the Cavaliers, who ended a three-game losing streak.