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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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 GAME FLOW
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- John Stockton and the aging Utah Jazz got the best of the young Sacramento Kings.
|  | | Not in OP's house! Utah's Olden Polynice denies Corliss Williamson's dunk attempt. |
"We are old. We can't get around that fact," the 38-year-old
Utah guard said Thursday night after the Jazz's 119-108 victory
over the Sacramento Kings. "The numbers tell the truth, but I
don't think we're playing old."
Utah's three aging stars certainly didn't look old against the Kings, with 36-year-old Karl Malone scoring 30 points and grabbing 13 rebounds, Stockton adding 22 points and 10 assists, and 36-year-old Jeff Hornacek scoring 22 points, too.
"Everybody came out to play tonight," Stockton said of his
team's highest scoring game of the season. "We focused in on what
we needed to do defensively and it's amazing what kind of lift
offensively that gives us."
The star point guard pushed his NBA-record assists total to
13,500 on a crosscourt pass to Hornacek for Utah's first basket as
the Jazz won for just the third time in their last 10 games.
"That's the first time I've seen us play like that in a long
time and it's kind of refreshing," Malone said.
Chris Webber led Sacramento with 22 points, and Corliss
Williamson had 18. Jason Williams had eight points on 2-for-10 shooting and added nine assists for the Kings, who have lost five or their last six road games.
Stockton hit two free throws to give Utah a 104-93 lead midway
through the fourth quarter, but Sacramento cut the margin to six on
Jon Barry's 3 pointer and Tony Delk's basket.
The Jazz regained control with their trademark precision.
Stockton scored on a driving layup, Hornacek hit a jumper as the
shot clock expired, and Malone added two free throws to make it
110-98 with 3:21 to play.
"You give them credit -- they took it to us," Sacramento coach
Rick Adelman said. "They made the big shots to keep us away."
Utah shot 52.5 percent from the field as it topped its previous season high of 118 points against Charlotte on Jan. 5. The Jazz had 30 assists, 14 more than the Kings.
"It was pretty obvious to me that we did a better job of trying
to set our people up, come off screens for shots," Utah coach
Jerry Sloan said. "We're certainly a better team when we play like
that than we are when we kind of just hang out."
Utah scored the first five points of the second half and took
its biggest lead at 69-47 on a Hornacek free throw. But Williamson,
who had 16 points in the third quarter, had seven points in a 16-4
spurt that made it 79-71 with 3:40 left in the period.
"Those guys are so good and so smart, you can't make mistakes
like getting down by 20 points," Webber said.
Williams added, "The thing about Utah is we know what they are
going to do, and they are going to keep doing it whether it's
working or not."
It worked Thursday night.
Game notes
Sacramento, the highest scoring team in the NBA, had just
four points with 6:46 left in the first quarter and still finished with 25 in the period ... Sacramento's Darrick Martin was ejected for two quick technicals with 5:43 remaining in the half after fouling Stockton, who got a technical just 20 seconds earlier ... The teams, who became instant rivals after the Jazz edged the Kings 3-2 in last season's emotional first-round playoff series, were whistled for 63 fouls and six technicals.
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Sacramento Clubhouse
Utah Clubhouse
RECAPS
Cleveland 119
Denver 101
Indiana 92
Milwaukee 90
Chicago 83
Miami 76
Dallas 106
Detroit 97
Utah 119
Sacramento 108
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