Gilliam Makes Strong First Impression for Jazz

Welcome to Utah, Armen Gilliam.

The newly acquired forward showed why the Utah Jazz wanted him, scoring nine of his 10 points in the fourth quarter and grabbing eight rebounds Thursday night as the Jazz defeated the Miami Heat, 93-83, at Salt Lake City.

“I felt like I was out of sync with the offense and I was in the way sometimes,” said Gilliam, added when the Jazz waived Pete Chilcutt. “But the guys were patient with me and coach was patient and left me out there.”

Gilliam was patient too, just to end up in Utah. He began the season on the injured list with the Orlando Magic. After he was waived in November, he waited seven weeks before the Jazz called.

“I wanted to be on a team that had a good group of guys that had been there before,” Gilliam said. “This was a perfect fit for me. I turned down a lot of bad teams, but this was the right fit.”

Bryon Russell scored 19 points, Karl Malone scored 18 points, Jeff Hornacek had 17 and Olden Polynice and Howard Eisley each had 11 for the Jazz.

Sacramento 107, San Antonio 103--Chris Webber had 34 points and 19 rebounds and the Kings rallied in the fourth quarter at Sacramento.

Webber ignited the rally, scoring 10 consecutive points for the Kings in one stretch. Sacramento won its third in a row and is only the second team to score more than 100 points against the Spurs this season.

Houston 108, Golden State 100--Cuttino Mobley scored 14 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter at Oakland for the Rockets. The Warriors have lost 11 in a row.

Minnesota 103, Boston 85--Kevin Garnett scored 11 of his 19 points during a decisive third-quarter run at Minneapolis.