Orlando rookie Shaquille O'Neal's made his first visit to the Delta Center Monday night, but everywhere he turned, the Shaq found himself under Attack. From Mark Eaton's long-armed harassment to Karl Malone's punishing biceps, from Larry Krystkowiak's grinding pressure to Mike Brown's bumping resistance, the Shaq had problems.
Considering the way O'Neal has taken the league by storm, the Jazz produced good results in their second game against the Magic. O'Neal got 22 points and 11 rebounds, but the Jazz shot 51 percent from the field to beat the Magic 108-96.Shaq didn't dominate the game, didn't seize the night and didn't even bring down any basketball standards. "I made a lot of mistakes and they capitalized on them," said O'Neal.
Although an anxious crowd of 19,911 showed up for its first in-person look at Shaq, he didn't have a prime-time night. Small wonder. The Magic were on the last stop of a five-game road trip. Sunday afternoon Orlando lost a nationally-televised game to Phoenix. The team then flew into Salt Lake, only to face a Jazz team that has hungered for weeks to get in a good rhythm.
"This is one of the best games we've played in awhile," said the Mailman. "I think we are sort of bringing it together, but we've got a ways to go. But we're getting there. As bad as we've played, we're still right there."
Even without a towering performance by O'Neal, his mere presence served to change the complexion of the Jazz-Magic matchup. Normally the Orlando game draws little more than a yawn in Salt Lake; there's more suspense in a meat loaf.
But this year was different. From before the NBA Draft last June, the league was building the arrival of O'Neal. And O'Neal hasn't disappointed. Through the first half of the season he ranked seventh in the league in scoring (23.6), second in field goal percentage (.576) and rebounds (14.0), fourth in blocks (3.9) and first in interview requests.
"He's like a rock star," said Magic publicist Alex Martins when the teams met in December.
"To me," grumped the Mailman, "he's just another player."
Hoping to avoid being swept by the Magic this year, the Jazz made their intentions known early. They put Eaton between O'Neal and the basket from the start, double-teaming whenever he got the ball. They sent Malone rumbling inside, hoping to capitalize on O'Neal's weakness for committing fouls. And they spread the court out effectively, making certain O'Neal didn't simply camp out under the basket and wait for someone to drive.
After feeling Eaton behind him for 11 minutes in the first quarter, O'Neal then got a sample of Brown, who held position well against his bigger counterpart. Partway through the second quarter, the Jazz then alternated between the Mailman and Larry Krystkowiak on O'Neal.
"I thought for the most part we did a pretty good job on Shaquille. He got loose a couple of times and got a couple of dunks, but for the most part I thought we played good team defense against him," said Eaton.While Orlando hung with the Jazz early, problems soon began to appear. O'Neal drew his third foul with 1:57 to go in the half. The Mailman, who was off to an 0-for-7 shooting start, was still going regularly to the line, making seven free throws in the final two minutes of the half.
Utah's six-point halftime lead grew to 13 in the third quarter, despite 10 points from O'Neal. Tyrone Corbin, who made 10 of 12 shots in the game, had eight of his 21 points, leading the Jazz to a 77-64 lead. Orlando cut the lead to four before the end of the period, but John Stockton hit a three and Corbin a tip-in, building the lead back to nine before the fourth quarter began.
The Jazz built their lead to 17 in the final quarter, then held the Magic off down the stretch.
The loss ended Orlando's five-game road trip with a 3-2 record. The Jazz moved within a game of San Antonio in the Midwest Division and await a Tuesday night game at Sacramento.
Though the Jazz are still just 5-6 in their last 11 games, they continued to pull slowly out of the slump that clutched them through much of January and part of February. The Mailman's 23 was high for the Jazz (despite a 5-for-13 shooting night), followed by Jeff Malone , Corbin and Stockton .
"I feel like our team is much more together than it's been," said Jazz coach Jerry Sloan. "The guys are trying to work out the problems we've had. But we just haven't reached the toughness stage where I'd like us to be."