When last we saw the Jazz and Detroit on the same court, Jerry Sloan and Dennis Rodman were offering to take a piece out of one another, six technicals were assessed and Rodman's wife bade Sloan season's greetings with a one-fingered salute.
It's good to know nothing's changed in four weeks. Saturday night at the Delta Center, the clubs picked up where they left off. Karl Malone and Darrell Walker were ejected and Isiah Thomas took 40 stitches over the eye. As for the basketball game, the Jazz beat Detroit, 102-100."It was just one of those strange games," offered Jazz Coach Jerry Sloan, "and a lot of strange things happened."
It wasn't exactly surprising to find blood on the court only 4 1/2 minutes into the game. When the Jazz and Pistons meet, it isn't a church picnic. Last time they played, Sloan and Rodman had to be separated during dispute that emptied both benches. But that was just a predecessor to Saturday night's events.
Although neither team was playing terribly well early, they went through the usual pushing and shoving without incident. But suddenly things turned nasty when Thomas went inside for a layup. As he went up for the shot, he met with Malone, who went up to block the shot and caught Thomas over the left eye with an elbow.
Thomas fell to the floor, bleeding profusely over the eye. As the benches emptied, Walker charged Malone and was ejected from the game. Malone was called for a flagrant foul and subsequently ejected.
"No, I did not do it intentionally," said Malone as he exited the building. "It's amazing, teams like Detroit do that intentionally and get away with it. We do something clean, something by accident and they make a (expletive) big deal out of it.
"That's not right. Even Joe (Dumars ) said it wasn't intentional."
Malone also had words for Walker. "Then some (expletive) come off the bench and tries to be a tough guy. But you put them in the ring and see what they'd do. They'd probably run."
Once order had been restored, the Pistons were minus Thomas, the Jazz minus Malone."I've been in all types of fights with Detroit," said Jazz center Mike Brown, who also played in Chicago. "Mahorn . . . the near fight with the coach last time . . . everyone from Jordan to Stockton to Karl Malone and Isiah. That's just part of the game," said Brown. "Detroit feels like they had enough weapons that they can get the top guy out and they still have enough guns to still win."
Thomas, who returned in the fourth quarter after going to Lakeview Hospital for treatment, said, "I haven't seen a replay of it so I really can't say what happened on the play. It hurt. It was a hard hit. I was a little scared. I was a lot scared. It felt like I got shot in the head. The play speaks for itself. On whether it was premeditated, I don't know. That's something you have to ask him."
Although things cooled considerably after the incident, they didn't end completely. After Rodman and Mark Eaton exchanged blocks, Blue Edwards stuffed a shot to bring the crowd to life.
The Pistons moved ahead by five early in the third quarter, but the Jazz struggled back, making it a tight game the remainder of the way.
Thomas returned in the middle of the final period with the teams tied at 83-83. Then the teams settled in for a white-knuckled finish.
Most of Detroit's damage was done by Joe Dumars, who poured in 17 points in the fourth period. But Mike Brown, who had 17 points, had 10 for the Jazz in the quarter.
The Jazz went up 99-96 with 1:02 to go in the game on Brown's free throws. Thomas made two of his own with 24 seconds to go, but Stockton, who had missed back-to-back free throws moments earlier, came back with a pair at the 19-second mark for a 101-98 lead.
Dumars made a layup, but Tyrone Corbin added a free throw with 13 seconds remaining, for a 102-100 lead.
Detroit's final gasp came when Thomas missed a layup, got a rebound and missed a long shot from the corner. Stockton rebounded and time ran out.
Jeff Malone and Dumars led the way for their teams with 26 and 28 points, respectively.
The win moved the Jazz to 15-9 and dropped th Pistons to 10-14. Detroit has now lost six of its last 11 games.
Utah now moves on for a five-game road trip in the East, beginning with a Tuesday game at Charlotte.
As for the Jazz and Detroit series . . . to be continued . . .
But judging by the comments, it appears next year's Detroit-Jazz games won't be any more amiable.
Bill Laimbeer accused Malone of a "premeditated" attack (see story at top of page), and went on to refer to Thomas' 44-point night the last time they met. "They didn't want to see him embarrass Stockton again," said Laimbeer.