Backup Plan Works for the Jazz

The Utah Jazz had been chasing the Lakers most of Monday night, from one end of the Delta Center to the other, but couldn’t quite pull ahead.

Not until Jazz Coach Jerry Sloan came up with a brilliant strategy: get Karl Malone out of there.

OK, so Malone had another excellent night, scoring a game-high 33 points, making 12 of 18 shots from the floor, pulling down seven rebounds and working the pick-and-roll to perfection with John Stockton.

But ironically, it was during one of the rare breathers for Malone, who played 41 minutes, that Utah went ahead to stay on the fourth-quarter run that gave the Jazz enough of an edge to hold off the Lakers at the end.

With 10:31 to play, and the Jazz, which hadn’t had a lead since the first five minutes of the game, behind 75-72, Bryon Russell came in for Malone.

Russell was immediately fouled by Robert Horry and converted on both free-throw attempts to make it a one-point game.

Then, after Nick Van Exel missed on a three-point attempt, Chris Morris had the ball back in the Utah frontcourt.

It was Russell who noticed that the 6-foot-8, 228-pound Morris was being guarded by the 6-1, 190-pound Van Exel.

“He yelled at me to post up,” said Morris of Russell.

That Morris did.

“I took one or two dribbles and put it right into the hole,” Morris said.

That put the Lakers into a hole from which they never emerged.

The Jazz scored again when Russell made a pass to Shandon Anderson on the fastbreak which Anderson turned into a successful layup.

Malone was soon back to help his teammates on an 11-0 run which turned the three-point deficit into an eight-point advantage.

The Utah hot streak had actually begun with 3:02 to play in the third quarter and the Lakers ahead, 67-61.

At that point, Laker Coach Del Harris pulled O’Neal for the breather he’d need going into the fourth quarter and inserted Elden Campbell.

There may be nights ahead when Elden Campbell looks like he’s worth that $49 million the Lakers are paying him over seven years, but this wasn’t one of them.

In all Monday night, Campbell played six minutes, took one shot from the floor that missed and pulled down two rebounds.

The Jazz took advantage of O’Neal’s absence to pull within 71-70 as the third quarter ended. The score would have been even if Malone hadn’t missed one of the two free throws he attempted in the closing seconds.

From that 3:02 mark of the third quarter to the end of the 11-0 streak in the fourth, the Lakers were outscored 22-8.

“I was nervous because our run came so early in the fourth quarter,” Utah center Greg Foster said.

And with Malone on the bench.

Go figure.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

THE BREAKDOWN

THE BENCH

Much was made of performance of the Jazz bench, particularly Howard Eisley and Chris Morris, in Game 1. This time, the Laker reserves outscored their Utah counterparts 25-17, held Eisley scoreless and still lost.

REFEREEING

Both Shaquille O’Neal and Nick Van Exel expressed their extreme displeasure at the officiating to the referees after the final buzzer. The Lakers had 34 fouls called against them to 29 for Utah. Corie Blount fouled out and both Rick Fox and Derek Fisher picked up five fouls, seriously limiting their effectiveness at the end. Only Byron Russell among the Jazz had as many as five fouls.

SHOOTING

The Lakers shot 45.9 percent from the floor. But take away O’Neal’s 14 for 21 and they were only 20 of 53 fro a 37.7 percent mark.