Jazz Regain Deadlock For Best In West

Karl Malone scored 19 points, Greg Foster added 12 points and a career-high 15 rebounds and the Utah Jazz defeated Phoenix 92-73 Tuesday night in Salt Lake City to move back into a tie for the best record in the Western Conference.

Dennis Scott led the Suns with 16 points and Danny Manning added 14, but none of Phoenix’s starters scored in double figures.

John Stockton dished out 11 assists for the Jazz, who won their fourth straight home game and their 14th in 15 overall. Utah and Seattle, who play next Tuesday in Seattle, both have a record of 51-17.

Elsewhere on the courts

At Portland, Juwan Howard scored 24 points, Tracy Murray had 23 and Washington survived the third-quarter ejection of Rod Strickland to beat the slumping, depleted Portland Trail Blazers 99-87.

Howard and Murray scored 15 apiece in the second half, and the Wizards used a fourth-quarter surge to pull one game ahead of New Jersey in the fight for the final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference.

At Atlanta, Steve Smith scored 10 of his 28 points in the last 10 minutes to lead the Atlanta Hawks to an 85-73 victory over the Orlando Magic.

The Hawks halted a two-game losing streak with their fourth win in six games. Atlanta remained three games behind Charlotte in the race for the fourth playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

Orlando, battling Washington for the eighth and final playoff spot in the East, had its two-game winning streak snapped.

At Cleveland, Vinny Del Negro hit a 12-foot baseline jumper with 3.3 seconds to play to give the San Antonio Spurs an 86-85 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Del Negro drove around a pick by Tim Duncan that freed him from defender Derek Anderson and buried the fallaway jumper to snap Cleveland’s four-game winning streak.

At Milwaukee, Ray Allen scored 33 points and Armon Gilliam added a season-high 29 as the Milwaukee Bucks snapped a nine-game losing streak and also halted Houston’s six-game winning streak with a 118-108 victory.

The injury-decimated Bucks, who have been without their three best players in Glenn Robinson (leg), Terrell Brandon (ankle) and Tyrone Hill (back), lost forward Michael Curry to a sprained right ankle midway through the second quarter.

Glen Rice had 24 points and seven rebounds and all five Charlotte starters scored in double figures as the Hornets cruised to a 106-89 victory over the Toronto Raptors in Toronto.

At Oakland, Calif., Larry Johnson scored 23 points and Allan Houston had 18 as the New York Knicks beat the Golden State Warriors 88-75 for their first road victory in more than a month.

The Knicks, still without injured Patrick Ewing, Chris Dudley and Buck Williams, also got 12 points from Charles Oakley in snapping a string of four straight road losses.

Blazers waive Askew

The Portland Trail Blazers waived nine-year NBA veteran Vincent Askew.

Askew appeared in 30 games for the Blazers this season, averaging 2.2 points, 2.3 rebounds and 14.8 minutes per game.

Ferry returns

The Cleveland Cavaliers activated forward Danny Ferry and placed forward Henry James on the injured list.

Ferry, 31, had missed the team’s last 12 games with inflammation in his right knee.