Malone Gets Defensive and Utah Ends Slide

Tim Duncan owned the first 46 minutes. John Stockton took over for the final two.

Stockton’s two clutch baskets helped the Utah Jazz break a six-game losing streak as they defeated the San Antonio Spurs, 93-90, Sunday at Salt Lake City.

With the Jazz trailing by two points, Stockton made a three-point shot with two minutes left to put Utah ahead, 89-88. After Terry Porter made a layup, Stockton’s driving layup with 16 seconds left gave Utah a 91-90 lead.

On the next possession, Duncan was closely guarded by Karl Malone and missed a jump shot off the back rim from 20 feet away. Bryon Russell then made two free throws to give Utah a 93-90 lead.

Duncan, again closely guarded by Malone, missed a three-point attempt at the buzzer.

“We knew he was going to take the last shot,” said Malone, who led the Jazz with 25 points. “We just wanted to make sure it was a tough shot.”

Duncan led the Spurs with 32 points, 24 coming in the first half. He made only two points in the fourth quarter.

“At least we stopped the bleeding a little bit,” Jazz Coach Jerry Sloan said. “I thought our guys played a little bit harder today than what we have been.”

The Jazz rebounded from Friday night’s 113-67 loss to the Lakers, their most lopsided defeat since losing, 130-84, to the Lakers in March 1986.

New York 94, Miami 80--Patrick Ewing scored a season-high 25 points and grabbed 14 rebounds while outplaying Alonzo Mourning at Madison Square Garden.

Ewing was 10 for 19 from the field in a season-high 44 minutes and helped hold Mourning to five-of-13 shooting. Mourning finished with 12 points and five rebounds.

The victory moved the Knicks within a half-game of the Heat in the Atlantic Division, but was costly as forwards Marcus Camby and Larry Johnson left because of injuries.

Camby sprained a knee and Johnson twisted a foot. Camby will miss tonight’s night’s game at Charlotte. Johnson’s status was uncertain.

Phoenix 105, Seattle 93--When the SuperSonics beat the Suns, 94-86, Friday night at Seattle, Gary Payton got the best of Jason Kidd in a matchup of two of the NBA’s best point guards.

This matchup at Phoenix went to Kidd, who scored 22 points and had 12 assists and seven rebounds. Payton had 13 points on four-of-18 shooting and scored one point in the second half.

New Jersey 110, Golden State 90--Kendall Gill scored six of his 25 points during a 16-7 third-quarter run that helped the Nets take command at East Rutherford, N.J.

New Jersey, which snapped a six-game losing streak, led, 95-75, with 7:23 left.

Detroit 109, Houston 105--Grant Hill, who missed five of the previous seven games because of a bruised back, scored 36 points in his return to the lineup to help the Pistons win their second straight after losing eight of nine.

Dallas 103, Vancouver 99--Michael Finley scored eight of his 34 points in overtime at Vancouver, Canada as the Mavericks improved to 7-1 in their last eight games.

It’s the fastest Dallas has reached the 20-win plateau since it went 20-20 in the 1989-90 season.

Shareef Abdur-Rahim scored a season-high 36 points and set a franchise record with 22 rebounds for the Grizzlies.

Portland 100, Boston 94--Jermaine O’Neal came off the bench to grab eight rebounds and score the Trail Blazers’ first seven points of the fourth quarter at Boston, helping them win for the eighth time in nine games.