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Wednesday, Dec. 29 9:00pm ET
Grizzlies 0-16 against Utah | |||||
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BOX SCORE
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 GAME FLOW
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- When things got a little closer than the Utah Jazz would have liked, Karl Malone took over. Malone dominated a key stretch of the fourth quarter and scored 29 points to lead Utah to a 101-90 win over the Vancouver Grizzlies on Wednesday night. After Mike Bibby made his third straight shot to pull Vancouver within three points, Malone scored three times inside on assists from John Stockton and drew two offensive fouls on Shareef Abdur-Rahim. Bryon Russell added a layup on another assist from Stockton, who had 13 for the game, and a tight game was suddenly 92-81 Utah with 3:52 left. "(Malone) led us in that good spurt and that led us to the win. What else is new with the Mailman?" Jazz center Olden Polynice said. The Jazz made nine consecutive free throws in the last 2:50 to secure the victory, Utah's fifth in a row at home. Jeff Hornacek scored 22 points in just 22 minutes for the Jazz, who won their ninth game in a row against sub-.500 teams. Bryon Russell added 12 and Jacque Vaughn had 11. "It looked like we were sleepwalking for a lot of the game. But we started executing and Malone got some easy baskets," Utah coach Jerry Sloan said. "He really came alive during that stretch in the fourth quarter. That was the difference." Michael Dickerson led Vancouver with 25 and Shareef Abdur-Rahim scored 18 points before he fouled out and was subsequently ejected. Bibby tallied all 14 of his points in the second half. Utah is the only team in the Western Conference that Vancouver has not defeated, losing all 16 times. Vancouver took its last lead at 47-45 after Othella Harrington's jumper capped a 6-0 run. Malone responded with a three-point play that started a 10-2 Utah run. Vancouver caught the Jazz at 65, but Howard Eisley hit two 3-pointers within a minute to push Utah back in front 75-67 with 36 seconds left in the third quarter. The Grizzlies led by as many as nine in the first half, but the Jazz finished the half with a 11-2 run, sparked by Malone's three-point play and fast break dunk after he dove into the crowd to save a loose ball. "(The Jazz) are bunch of old dogs, but they are a bunch of smart old dogs ... we have to learn from teams like this here," Hollins said. Game notesWednesday marked the first game the Utah Jazz played without Frank Layden in the organization. The Jazz president and former coach resigned Tuesday ... Hornacek made both of his foul shots to run his consecutive free throw streak to 66 ... Sloan joined Red Auerbach (795 wins with Boston) and Red Holzman (613 wins with New York) as the only coaches ever to win 600 games with one NBA franchise ... The Grizzlies have won just one game on the road all season (December 7 at Dallas). | ALSO SEE NBA Scoreboard Vancouver Clubhouse Utah Clubhouse RECAPS Indiana 116 Atlanta 89
Utah 101
Philadelphia 97
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