Ready to Deliver

Whiners and excuses have no place within the Utah Jazz.

That’s an admirable trait even if one day it leads to a scene in which a player will sever an artery and take enough time to slap on a Band-Aid while Coach Jerry Sloan grumbles something about, “He must not be hurt because he’s playing,” so Karl Malone throws himself on the grenade right on schedule.

Game 3 of the NBA finals has arrived, tonight at the United Center with the Jazz and Chicago Bulls tied after splitting in Salt Lake City, but Malone hasn’t. He’s 14 of 41 from the field (34.1%) and has scored 37 points, as many as Michael Jordan had Friday, after averaging 30 in the Western Conference finals, prompting Malone to admit Utah can’t survive at this rate.

“No,” he said. “Point blank, no. We will not win this series if I don’t play better. That’s just facts. That’s just the way it is.”

In a related development, several Lakers were being treated for sprained necks after shaking their heads so hard in disgust while wondering why this drought couldn’t have hit a few games earlier. Which, of course, is what makes it all the more strange, that Malone had just played a superb series, especially in the way he showed off the consistent perimeter game that has developed in recent years.

And now this.

Nine baskets in 25 attempts in Game 1--with seven of the makes in 43 minutes of the overtime victory coming on dunks and layups. Two critical jumpers, from 15 and 19 feet, in the final 1:43 of regulation provided some redemption.

And five hits in 16 tries in Game 2--a 19-footer in the first quarter and four others in the paint.

Someone asked Sloan after that showing, a 93-88 loss that came as the other 10 Jazz combined to shoot 55%, whether there was anything he could do to help Malone through this.

“Help him with what?” came the reply.

“Seems like he’s having trouble making jump shots.”

“He’s missed a couple of shots,” Sloan said.

Maybe he meant a couple of dozen and just misspoke.

“I think maybe I have to work harder or things like that,” Malone said. “I don’t have any excuses. . . . It’s a lot of things that maybe I could have or whatever, but I didn’t and I take responsibility for that. You can’t shy away from it.

“So I just keep trying, I keep taking opportunities if they’re there and I keep trying to do other things. But I think the worst thing in the world for me to do now is try to put the whole weight of the team on my shoulders. Yeah, I know it’s important, but I also don’t want to start rushing things.

“What we try to do as a team is on my shoulders, and when I don’t do it you have to face the firing squad, which is you guys [the media]. But it’s not bad. I deal with it and go on from there.”

There being here, and the additional problem: getting Malone shots, which is still the idea despite his struggles. Friday, he had only four attempts in the second half and only one in the final 5 1/2 minutes of a close game when victory could have meant a commanding 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.

His final basket? With 4:30 remaining in the second quarter.

“I never said I didn’t want Karl Malone to take shots,” Sloan said. “But the important thing is, how hard do you work to get open shots? [The Bulls] were doing a great job. They stood us up and took us out of what we wanted to do. That’s when you have to be tough mentally and stay with it. I don’t think we were sometimes. I thought we lost our ability to compete against them.”

He meant all the Jazz, not only Malone.

The teamwide deficiencies had shown themselves before Malone got too far into his Game 2 problems, the Bulls having practically run a layup line through the Utah defense, shooting 55.6% in the first quarter without an attempt from farther than 15 feet.

“I’m concerned about the first quarter,” Sloan said. “That’s where the game is established, in my opinion. I know it’s not always won there, but that’s how you establish who you are as a team.

“They did that against us, and they established that right in the beginning of the game: ‘This is who we are. Now what are you going to do about it?’ ”

Well?

Jazz?

Karl?

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Off His Game

Karl Malone has not had good offensive numbers in the first two games of the NBA finals, although he’s still rebounding:

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Game 1 Game 2 Field Goals 9-25 5-16 Free Throws 3-4 6-9 Points 21 16 Rebounds 14 12

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