He is the unlikely 3-point marksman who just turned Game 1 of Jazz-Mavericks with a very rare triple.

	Stockton enters his 18th year coming off 8.7 assists per game.

He is the undeniable medical marvel who, before sinking that shot, had to make pro sports' history by rebounding from three knee reconstructions.

He is Danny Manning, playoff hero du jour in Jazzland, understandably dissecting the play of ... John Stockton?

"Amazing," says Manning, who should know.

Manning is amused by all the media gnats who have swarmed since Saturday, as if he was back in Kansas, after the surprise three-ball that enabled Utah to pull out their series opener with Dallas and take a 1-0 lead into Tuesday night's Game 2.

Because ...

"If I'd have missed that shot," Manning points out, "I'm the goat."

The other reason is Stockton, now 39, without whom Manning couldn't have made such an impact with his first playoff 3-pointer since 1992.

We know that because the Jazz, in its 11 minutes sans Stockton in Game 1, got outscored by 17 points. In 13 straight third-quarter possessions without Stockton, Utah got points out of exactly one of them.

	“	We've come to take Stock for granted. But we expect a lot out of him. ”
		— Malone on Stockton

With Stockton, conversely, the Jazz was able to overcome Karl Malone's basket-less stretch of almost 13 minutes, all against the out-of-mothballs Mark Bryant. Utah thus managed to turn back the post-season neophytes from Dallas who, for all they didn't have -- experience, rebounding or a bench contribution -- came within a minute of a memorable upset.

"I guess you have to say he's lost a little bit, but not enough to take him out of the top echelon of guards," Manning said. "Just look at his field-goal percentage (.504). His 3-point percentage (.462). His assists (8.7 per game). His steals (1.6).

"A lot of guys 21 would love to put up the numbers John's putting up at 40."

Said Malone: "We've come to take Stock for granted. But we expect a lot out of him."

Which could well emerge as Story O' The Series, in spite of Manning's storybook start. To keep disproving Steve Nash's bold boast that the Mavericks "are the better team," it appears as though the Jazz might have to play Stockton more than he's used to at this stage of his career. How Stockton responds to those expectations/demands potentially settles the matchup.

	Manning

	Malone

Utah's offense just doesn't function as fluidly with Jacque Vaughn running it. And, as Jazz coach Jerry Sloan admits: "They can make a lot of changes. We can't change a whole lot."

Dirk Nowitzki, for starters, can do considerably better than 2 for 9 from long distance. Juwan Howard is bound to exceed a double-bagel -- zero points, zero rebounds -- in his next fourth quarter. Don and Donnie Nelson, you figure, won't combine for three technical fouls to gift Stockton unearned free throws. Maybe most of all, the Mavericks won't surrender 19 offensive rebounds while settling for four points and four rebounds from their reserves.

Now you know why Dallas -- in its first playoff series since 1990 -- sounds so optimistic. There is so much room to improve after just a two-point defeat.

Sloan's only available tweak, meanwhile, might be increasing Stockton's workload, which clocked in at a modest 29.2 minutes per game during the regular season. In Game 1, Stockton logged 37 minutes -- a plateau he reached only three times in 82 games, each of those an overtime game.

The temptation Tuesday is letting Stockton go even longer, since the teams will have three full off days before Saturday's Game 3 in Dallas. Especially if Stockton comes anywhere close to replicating his 12 points, 18 assists and six rebounds.

"We've known that since John has been here," Sloan said of the Stock dip that grips the Jazz when its pushing-40 quarterback takes a blow. "This is not the first time it's come up."

Stockton, of course, doesn't have much to say on the subject. "I'm not even thinking about it," he said in response to the minutes question. Pressed further, as the gnats probed for just one usable quote, Stockton didn't exactly match Nash in the bulletin-board battle.

Stock's fearless prediction: "Game 2 will be tougher."

Said Nash, nothing less than respectful toward the player he's often compared to: "He's so smart and experienced, and he's got [options] A, B and C on every play. And they've been doing it for 17 years.

"In a lot of ways, you can make the case that he's their MVP."

In the opener, that was certainly the case. Apologies to Mailman and a marvelous Manning.

	Carter

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