Jazz Take Care Of Sonics For 10th Straight Victory

The only thing that kept the Utah Jazz out of the NBA Finals last season was the Seattle SuperSonics. This season, the Jazz look ready to take the next step - especially when they play the Sonics.

The best start in franchise history got even better for Utah on Sunday night as Karl Malone had 30 points and 13 rebounds and the Jazz beat Seattle for the second time this season with a 96-90 victory.

The Jazz, who lost in seven games to the Sonics in the Western Conference finals last spring, won their 10th straight game. With four more wins, the Jazz would tie the franchise record of 14 straight wins set in 1994-95.

Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said his team has given him one problem.

“My dilemma is finding playing time because everybody is really playing well,” Sloan said.

Utah’s bench outscored Seattle’s 44-22 as Antoine Carr had 13 points, Chris Morris 12 and rookie Shandon Anderson 11. “We’re deeper, more athletic and can throw a lot of different lineups at other team,” Malone said.

In this winning streak, the Jazz have beaten the best in the NBA. They handed the Chicago Bulls their only loss of the season and also handled the Shaquille O’Neal-led Los Angeles Lakers.

Utah controlled play throughout, leading by as many as 14 points in the first half. The Sonics got within two points twice in the second half, but the Jazz responded each time.

Shawn Kemp led the Sonics with 29 points and 13 rebounds. Gary Payton had 18 points and seven assists and Sam Perkins added 17.

Carr’s two free throws put the Jazz up 90-79 with 1:53 left. The Sonics closed to 91-85 with 56.4 seconds left on two baskets by Kemp and one by Hersey Hawkins, but Utah went 5-for-6 from the foul line in the final minute to ice the victory.

A free throw by Perkins gave Seattle its only lead of the game, 23-22, but the Jazz then stunned the Sonics and silenced the capacity crowd with a 15-2 run.

Utah’s defense slowed the Sonics to a walk. Seattle did not score a fast break point. Utah had nine.

Sonics coach George Karl was puzzled by his team’s apparent lack of enthusiasm.

“Gary and Shawn were doing their part,” Karl said. “We didn’t work hard enough to get anything in transition.”

Stockton downplayed the importance of the Jazz streak and their early dominance of the Sonics.

“We’ve won some games and beaten some good teams,” he said. “I’ll wait to make a judgment on whether we have improved enough to take the next step.”

Notes

Stockton needs to play in six more games to reach 1,000 in his career. He has played in 994 of a possible 998 games in his 13-year career. …The Jazz have lost twice to the Houston Rockets this year. …The Jazz, who lead the league in field goal percentage, were 37-for-79 against the Sonics. … Hawkins scored all 12 of his points in the fourth quarter., including a running 12-foot jumper with 7:58 remaining for the 7 millionth point in NBA history.

Jazz 96, SuperSonics 90

FG FT Reb UTAH Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Malone 43 12-27 6-8 2-13 3 3 30 Russell 27 2-6 0-0 0-4 2 2 6 Ostertag 19 3-6 0-0 2-4 0 2 6 Hornacek 21 2-5 0-0 0-0 2 4 4 Stockton 37 2-7 1-2 0-3 12 2 6 Eisley 11 1-2 0-0 1-1 1 0 2 Anderson 24 4-7 3-3 3-4 2 3 11 Morris 19 4-6 2-2 0-3 1 1 12 Carr 29 4-10 5-6 2-6 1 5 13 Foster 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 Keefe 8 3-3 0-0 1-2 0 0 6 Totals 240 37-79 17-21 11-40 24 23 96 Percentages: FG .468, FT .810.

3-Point Goals: 5-8, .625 (Morris 2-2, Russell 2-4, Stockton 1-1, Eisley 0-1).

Team Rebounds: 6.

Blocked shots: 1 (Malone).

Turnovers: 12 (Carr 3, Malone 2, Stockton 2, Ostertag, Eisley, Anderson, Morris, Keefe).

Steals: 10 (Stockton 3, Russell 2, Hornacek 2, Malone, Carr, Keefe).

Technical fouls: Illegal defense, 7:06 fourth.

Illegal defense: 1.

FG FT Reb SEATTLE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts Kemp 41 11-19 7-12 4-12 3 3 29 Schrempf 39 1-8 3-4 1-10 8 5 5 McIlvaine 14 2-3 0-2 1-1 0 3 4 Hawkins 35 5-8 1-1 3-6 1 2 12 Payton 47 8-19 2-2 2-7 4 3 18 Perkins 31 5-10 4-6 1-3 1 3 17 Ehlo 18 2-6 0-0 1-2 0 4 5 Snow 8 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 0 Stewart 7 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 0 0 Totals 240 34-73 17-27 13-42 18 23 90 Percentages: FG .466, FT .630.

3-Point Goals: 5-18, .278 (Perkins 3-7, Hawkins 1-1, Ehlo 1-3, Schrempf 0-3, Payton 0-4).

Team Rebounds: 7.

Blocked shots: 5 (Kemp 2, McIlvaine 2, Schrempf).

Turnovers: 15 (Kemp 6, Schrempf 3, McIlvaine 2, Hawkins, Payton, Stewart, Snow).

Steals: 3 (Kemp 2, Payton).

Technical fouls: None.

Illegal defense: 1.

Utah 18 31 19 28 - 96

Seattle 15 23 25 27 - 90

A-17,072 (17,072). T-2:06.