Malone Decides It’s Time to Give a Garden Party

Karl Malone reached into his bag of tricks and pulled out a few rarities. There was a sky hook a la Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, a three-foot finger roll a la George Gervin, and a long jump shot as the 24-second clock expired a la Michael Jordan.

“I’ve got those kinds of things,” Malone said after leading the Utah Jazz past the New York Knicks, 88-79, Sunday at Madison Square Garden.

“My teammates are always telling me: When are you going to do this and when are you going to do that? But [my normal stuff] is working for all these years, so why should I change it?

“I’m not going to do [other things] until guys stop me from doing what I’ve been doing all these years,” Malone said. “I just did that today for the guys.”

Malone scored 30 points and Bryon Russell added 19 as Utah’s forwards dominated New York’s, outscoring Kurt Thomas and Larry Johnson, 49-8.

It was the fourth consecutive victory and the 11th in 13 games for the Jazz, who led for almost the entire game in becoming only the second Western Conference team to win at Madison Square Garden this season.

Indiana 114, Golden State 95--The Pacers completed a three-game trip that began with losses to Phoenix and the Lakers. After winning at Oakland, they now head back to Indianapolis--where they’ve won 23 in a row and have not lost since Thanksgiving.

Austin Croshere made all four of his three-point attempts and scored 18 points for Indiana, which leads the Eastern Conference with a 40-19 record.

Toronto 94, Vancouver 92--Mike Bibby missed an uncontested layup at the buzzer that would have sent the game into overtime as the Grizzlies lost their fourth game in a row.

Vince Carter, who gave Toronto an 84-82 lead with 4:26 left, scored the next 10 points to clinch the Raptors’ fifth consecutive victory. Carter’s only trip to Vancouver drew 19,193 fans, the first sellout of the season for the Grizzlies.

Charlotte 100, Chicago 94--The Bulls took a 94-90 lead with 3:59 left on a three-point basket by Fred Hoiberg, but they went scoreless the rest of the way at Charlotte, N.C., and lost their eighth consecutive game.

Derrick Coleman led the Hornets with 26 points despite getting ejected for two technical fouls with 6:48 left.

Minnesota 105, Seattle 100--Gary Payton scored 17 of his 34 points in the fourth quarter, including a three-point basket with 7.1 seconds left that sent the game into overtime, but the SuperSonics, playing their fifth road game in seven nights, lost for the fourth time in six games.

Cleveland 100, Denver 92--Former Clipper Lamond Murray had 20 points and nine rebounds as the Cavaliers won their third consecutive road game. They had lost 11 road games in a row before winning at Chicago, the Clippers and Denver.

Boston 97, Orlando 91--With 18.1 seconds left at Boston, Antoine Walker rebounded Pat Garrity’s missed a three-point shot, enabling the Celtics to run out the clock and end a four-game losing streak.