Eight days after they last played at home, the Jazz were back at work on Tuesday, inducing fainting spells at the Delta Center. This time the unlucky team leaving under a shroud of gloom was the Cleveland Cavaliers. Got a complaint? Fill out a form and get in line. The Jazz are getting all the late calls these days, and not even Michael Jordan can stem the tide.
The latest in a run of electrifying finishes came when John Stockton's layup at the buzzer gave the Jazz a 111-109 win over the Cavs. The Jazz have now won three straight home games in frantic finishes, two of them on controversial plays. Two games ago, Delaney Rudd's corner shot in overtime provided the Jazz with the winning margin over Phoenix. Three days later came the much-debated triple-overtime win over Chicago, when Jordan fouled Jeff Malone and Malone sank two free throws in the waning seconds.But perhaps Tuesday's game was the most controversial of all. Cleveland coughed up the ball on a turnover with six seconds left in the game and the score tied at 109. After a timeout, Blue Edwards passed to Stockton, who sped to the basket for a layup.
Momentarily the ball spun on the lip of the rim. Karl Malone leaped to tip the ball in as the final horn sounded. What happened next was, of course, material for debate. The Cavs claimed long and loud that Malone touched the ball while it was inside the cylinder, thus committing offensive basket interference. But referee Greg Willard disagreed, ruling the ball spun in on its own and the Mailman was clean and clear.
"I thought it was (interference)," said Cleveland guard Mark Price. "But then I wanted it to be."
After the final shot, some players stood mutely on the court, awaiting the call while others argued the respective considerations. If Malone had touched the ball, it was definitely interference. But had he touched it? "Nope," said the Mailman resolutely. "I didn't touch it."
Stockton (surprise!) agreed. "I don't think he touched it," said Stockton. "I had as good an angle as anybody, and I looked up and said the game's over. I was ready to head out the gym. Only the fact that people stopped did I stop. I was ready to leave. I thought it was a bucket."
Said Cleveland Coach Lenny Wilkens, "I couldn't tell, it looked like it was (touched) from where I was, but they say he didn't touch the ball. The players say he did, but I'm not under the basket, so I couldn't tell."
That the game would wind down to a final shot before being decided wasn't exactly a surprise. Last year in Cleveland, the Jazz had to go into overtime to win. The previous year in Salt Lake, Cleveland beat the Jazz by three in overtime. And this year in Cleveland, Craig Ehlo landed a three-pointer at the buzzer to stop the Jazz.
"We have stolen a few from them, so I guess turnabout if fair play," said Price.
It was obvious early in the game this wasn't going to be much different than other Cleveland-Utah games. Though the Jazz built a 10-point lead before halftime, 21/2 minutes later the lead was down to two.
Cleveland led by as many as four - those coming in the fourth quarter - but never had the Jazz in trouble until the end. By then the teams had turned the reins over to their resident All-Star guards, Stockton and Price.
Price made two free throws with 18 seconds to go, to put Cleveland ahead 109-106.
While the Cavs knew the Jazz could be deadly from three-point range, they didn't know their day would be ruined by Jeff Malone. Stockton got the ball to Karl Malone, who under a barrage of defense, flipped it to Jeff Malone on the side. Though the latter had missed all seven treys he'd taken this year, this wasn't the time to trifle with percentages. He put it up, rippling the ball softly through the net.
"It's a shot I had to take," said Malone. "Normally I don't take the three, but I had to get one up.
"I don't practice threes. That's just not my game. I'm just not gonna worry about it. But on occasion I can hit them."
"The big play," said Price, "was Malone's shot."Nevertheless, Cleveland had aeons of time left - nine seconds.
Ehlo passed to Hot Rod Williams, who relayed to Price, driving toward the basket. But Price mishandled the ball momentarily and Utah's Blue Edwards came up with it, immediately calling time out.
"We tried to get it in my hands," said Price. "Hot Rod caught the ball and flipped it to me and I just mishandled it and they got the ball back."
That left the Jazz with six seconds left and time to get the ball in Stockton's hands. "He was able to take it right to the basket and he's the best at that," said the Mailman.
Once Stockton got the ball, it was more of the same at the Delta Center: fans going wild, the clock running out and the Fates lining up in the Jazz's favor.
The final result left few unsatisfied. Good teams going down to the wire is what even the players seem to relish. "I think we're both solid teams," said Price. "Any time you have good, solid teams, there's not many blowouts."
GAME NOTES: Larry Nance led the Cavs with 21 points and 12 rebounds, while Karl Malone, Stockton and Jeff Malone had 25, 24 and 25 points, respectively . . . The Jazz are 21-2 at home this year . . . Stockton's 19 assists leaves him 19 shy of moving past Bob Cousy to No. 6 on the all-time NBA list . . . Mark Eaton missed only his ninth game ever when he sat out last Wednesday's game in Sacramento.