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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME FLOW
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Olden Polynice embraces his role as a
rebounder and defender for the Utah Jazz. Then there are those
special nights where he revisits his former life as a scorer.
|  | | Utah's John Stockton gets Vancouver's Mike Bibby all turned around.
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Karl Malone scored 21 points and Polynice added a season-high 15
on 7-for-9 shooting as the Utah Jazz beat the Vancouver Grizzlies
101-83 on Wednesday night.
"Y'all are acting like I just started playing this game,"
Polynice told reporters clustered around his locker. "I just try
to stay within my role on this team. Go back a couple of years, and
I was able to put the ball in the basket for some teams."
The salad days for Polynice as a scorer were four seasons in the
mid-1990s when he averaged between 10.8 and 12.5 points a game for
the Sacramento Kings. But he has given that up in two seasons with
Utah.
"I'll trade all the personal statistics for a W," said
Polynice, who averages 5.5 points.
Donyell Marshall added 19 points as the Jazz, who have the best
winning percentage in the Western Conference, won for the eighth
time in nine games.
Shareef Abdur-Rahim scored 19 points to lead Vancouver and Mike
Bibby and Michael Dickerson each scored 17. But with Polynice
heating up, the Grizzlies lost their fifth in a row.
"It's tough to beat a team with a guy who, coming into the
game, you don't expect him to do that much," Abdur-Rahim said.
"It just puts you in a bad way, already going with the caliber of
players they have."
Malone scored nine in the third quarter as the Jazz pulled away.
And Polynice, a 7-foot center who isn't usually expected to score,
provided eight points in the period to give the Jazz a lift.
Polynice also provided a few laughs when he hugged referee Jason
Phillips, who ruled that Polynice's basket at the end of the third
quarter didn't beat the buzzer.
"It's like being in church and you catch the Holy Ghost,"
Polynice explained. "You don't really know what you're doing."
Polynice is on a roll right now, scoring in double figures for
the third consecutive game. He scored 10 points in each of the last
two games, Monday against Atlanta and Sunday at Phoenix.
He credits his recent rededication to religion, along with a
talk with coach Jerry Sloan the day after he went scoreless and
played only four minutes during a victory over the Kings on Feb.
18.
"There's no trick," Polynice said. "I've been doing a lot of
praying and I think that's been a part of it. I'm more focused I
think it also has a lot to do with the conversation I had with
Jerry. It got me back on track."
He declined to elaborate on the meeting, and Sloan said only
that Polynice has improved since they talked.
"I don't run to guys with a handful of candy every time two or
three little things happen," Sloan said. "They have to figure it
out themselves. He came to me and talked about what was going on."
Utah shot 59 percent and improved to 21-1 overall against the
Grizzlies, who stunned the Jazz last season in the Delta Center, but
couldn't find the same kind of magic again.
On paper, this one looked like a yawner and it often seemed Utah
would make short work of it. The Jazz built first-half leads of
31-25 and 49-43 and seemed ready to break it open each time, only
to see Vancouver come back.
Even when Utah used an 8-0 run for a 65-55 lead midway through
the third quarter, Bibby scored six in a row for the Grizzlies to
make it close again. But that's when Malone and Polynice took
over.
Game notes
Malone is eight games from tying Paul Silas (1,254) for
eighth place on the NBA's career list. ... Stockton, the league's
career steals leader, needs 56 more for 3,000. ... The NBA on
Wednesday gave Vancouver owner Michael Heisley more time to
relocate to another city, but it wasn't big news to the team.
"Don't make a difference," coach Sidney Lowe said. "We'll just
play basketball. When we get word the team is moving, if we do,
then we'll go."
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ALSO SEE
NBA Scoreboard
Vancouver Clubhouse
Utah Clubhouse
RECAPS
Indiana 99
Milwaukee 86
Toronto 95
Atlanta 88
Charlotte 91
New Jersey 88
Minnesota 111
Detroit 100
Philadelphia 79
Miami 69
Houston 95
Chicago 78
Orlando 97
Phoenix 91
Utah 101
Vancouver 83
Denver 107
LA Lakers 101
Sacramento 122
Golden State 101
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