Steady Does It for Malone, Jazz

Karl Malone was as steady as ever. And Rasheed Wallace was an emotional disaster.

Malone had 24 points and 13 rebounds and reserve Scott Padgett added 11 points as the Utah Jazz defeated the Portland Trail Blazers, 97-96, Saturday afternoon at Salt Lake City.

John Stockton had 17 points and nine assists, and scored on a layup with 36.5 seconds to play to help end Portland’s five-game winning streak.

The Jazz won the season series with Portland, 3-1.

“Every year when the season’s over, we look back on two or three games separating us from a particular playoff spot,” Malone said. “We’ve got the tiebreaker [against Portland].”

It was Utah’s final home game until Feb. 28. The Jazz goes on a franchise-record nine-game trip while the Delta Center stages figure skating and short-track speedskating during the Winter Olympics.

Bryon Russell made two free throws with 9.3 seconds to play, giving the Jazz a 97-93 lead. Those two shots proved key moments later when Scottie Pippen made his fourth three-point basket of the fourth quarter. He finished with 17 points. Bonzi Wells led Portland with 24 points.

The game included a meltdown by Wallace, Portland’s temperamental forward, who was ejected in the third quarter after yelling in the face of referee Hue Hollins, arguing that he had been fouled. Wallace led the league with 41 technical fouls last season.

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Philadelphia 86, Milwaukee 81--Allen Iverson scored 25 points and the 76ers rallied at Milwaukee in a rematch of last season’s Eastern Conference finals won by Philadelphia.

Iverson, listed as probable before the game because of flulike symptoms, played 47 minutes, but made only nine of 30 shots. Ray Allen led the Bucks with 20 points.

Milwaukee Coach George Karl blasted his team--especially Allen, Glenn Robinson and Sam Cassell.

“We’ll keep showing them film, we’ll keep showing them opportunities,” Karl said. “But if they were to continue to refuse to change, there’s probably going to have to be a change. That means trading one of them or firing me. I think it’s come to that, to be honest with you.

“Every night it’s a little bit of stubbornness, a little bit of too much dribbling, a little bit of not committing to the team, a little bit of not having pride in how to play the game the right way.”

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Chicago 97, Seattle 91--A.J. Guyton scored 13 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter and the Bulls overcame a 13-point deficit to post a rare road victory.

The Bulls ended a 26-game road losing streak against Western Conference teams, dating to a victory over the Clippers on Feb. 6, 2000.

The Bulls won for only the second time in 23 road games. The SuperSonics, who got 23 points from Vin Baker and 21 from Gary Payton, lost their third in a row at home.

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New Jersey 98, Toronto 91--Jason Kidd had 31 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds for New Jersey at East Rutherford, N.J., his second consecutive triple-double.

No team has defeated New Jersey twice in a row this season. The Nets won for the seventh time in a row at home.

Vince Carter had 26 points for Toronto, which had a three-game winning streak ended.

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Detroit 115, Cleveland 107--Jerry Stackhouse scored 23 points--18 in the second half--and the Pistons made a season-best 42 free throws for their fourth consecutive road victory.

Utah had the previous high for successful free throws with 39 on Nov. 23.

New York center Marcus Camby will be out three to six weeks because of a torn muscle and bruised right hip suffered in a collision with Jermaine O’Neal in the first quarter of New York’s 92-87 loss to the Indiana Pacers on Friday.