After stealing out of Portland Sunday night, the Jazz rolled back into Salt Lake Monday morning, ripe to be beaten. Only the night before they had dispatched the Blazers on the road, which happens about as often as a Garbo sighting.
But Monday was a different problem. The poor, beleaguered Dallas Mavericks, who have but two wins to their names all year, were in town. Which is normally a good time for the Jazz to have a breakdown.Maybe not. Seven players scored in double figures and everyone on the team played 13 or more minutes as the Jazz wiped out Dallas 115-85.
"We just kept pouring it on, even when guys came off the bench," said Karl Malone. "I'm not going to call it a mismatch, but we were doing what we were supposed to do on offense, and it was working."
Certainly the Jazz, 22-8, are looking different lately. Sunday night they overcame a 19-point deficit in Portland. But get serious about Dallas? A team that has won only two of 28 games?
"It shouldn't be hard to come back and play the next night," groused Jazz coach Jerry Sloan. "Not if you like to play basketball."
These days it would be hard not to like basketball if you're playing for the Jazz. With Luther Wright on the bench, all remaining 11 players on the active roster scored four or more points. Once the game was in the bag and the starters were retired to the sidelines, the bench boosted the lead even further.
"It's sort of neat," the Mailman continued. "Guys on the bench coming in and scoring double figures. It's neat to be able to play only 30 minutes."
Indeed the Jazz did some serious pounding on the Mavericks, who went 20 games without a victory this year. The Jazz are now officially equal opportunity bullies, beating up the good and bad. Already this year the Jazz have beaten the Mavericks (2-26) three times - and it isn't even halfway through the season.
"In this business people don't feel sorry for you," the Mailman said. "They kick you when you're down. If the shoe was on the other foot, they'd be doing the same thing."
As the game commenced, it appeared the Jazz were primed for an old pitfall: A quick lead followed by sloppy play. But after scoring the first three baskets of the quarter, they skipped the swoon and bolted to a 23-9 lead.
Meanwhile, the Mavericks were as awful as advertised, committing 12 turnovers in the first 20 minutes. The Jazz led 52-41 at half.
Following the break, the Mavericks tried a different approach: They went crazy. Center Greg Dreiling drew the team's first technical after being called for a foul against Karl Malone. Dreiling, who felt he had been mugged by the Mailman, responded by drawing two straight technicals and the ensuing ejection.
"Greg, I thought, was right because Karl knocked his arm off and then Greg got called for the foul," said Dallas coach Quinn Buckner. "And Greg responded to what the officials said, which I'm not really sure of."
Three minutes later, the Mavericks went through another wild spate of complaining, which resulted in more technicals. Popeye Jones was called for a Level 1 flagrant foul after whacking John Stockton. The foul included two free throws and a Jazz possession.
Soon to follow was a Buckner technical, then another on veteran guard Derek Harper. Once the four free throws were over - three of which the Jazz hit - Utah followed shortly after with a Karl Malone 3-point play for a 65-52 lead.
"It's tough sometimes because we were short-handed as it is, and then we were only down by eight at the time when we got some of those techs," said Dallas guard Jim Jackson. "That totally switched the momentum from our way to their way."
The rest of the game consisted of Sloan keeping everyone happy as he spread the minutes among the reserves. The Jazz played the entire fourth quarter with reserves, who boosted the lead from 19 to 30 points. Tom Chambers led the Jazz with 20 points in only 26 minutes, while the Mailman totaled 19 points.
The win was the Jazz's largest since Dec. 5, 1993, in a 30-point win over Denver.
"It's neat to win the ballgames you're supposed to win," the Mailman added.
Having dispatched San Antonio, Minnesota, Boston, Portland and Dallas in order, the Jazz now turn to Wednesday's home game against Phoenix - a team which handed the Jazz their worst loss of the season (120-98). What was merely their duty against Dallas is more of a mission against Phoenix.
"They're not that good," said Chambers, referring to the 22-point drubbing in Phoenix, "and we're not that bad."
GAME NOTES: Chambers needs 19 points to reach 19,000 for his career . . . The Jazz have won 14 of their last 17 and nine of the last 10 . . . The Mavs' Terry Davis was out after elbow surgery, Randy White missed with a knee injury and Lucious Harris missed due to a sprained ankle . . . Dallas center Sean Rooks, bothered by the flu, played anyway, scoring six points. Rookie Jamal Mashburn (20 points) and Jim Jackson (23 points) led the Mavericks in scoring.