The Utah Jazz have posted two straight 20-plus point victories, but don't confuse the Sacramento Kings - Wednesday night's victims - with the New Jersey Nets.
The Nets were awful, while the Kings, despite losing 116-95, did everything New Jersey didn't - work hard, shoot well, refuse to quit."This is a good team, a young team with some good young players," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said of the Kings. "Our guys are certainly aware of that, and we had to play well to beat them."
And the Jazz did play well, perhaps their best effort of the season, in raising their record to 10-2. The funny thing is, Utah probably has played its best games against the two teams that came out most aggressively against them - the Kings and Minnesota. Maybe a little aggression wakes this veteran team up.
`We're not good unless we're aggressive," said Utah's Adam Keefe. "Sometimes it takes a team to ring our bell to get us going."
It also gave the Jazz a lift to see center Felton Spencer back on the floor (see accompanying story). Spencer started both halves, played 20 minutes, totaled nine points and six rebounds and looked very active for a guy who hasn't played in 10 months.
"It gave me a lift," Keefe said. "Felton's the kind of guy who fits in well with this team. He's the kind of guy who can thrive out there without being the go-to guy."
The Jazz seem to have a lot of those kinds of guys, and they've had no better overall effort than in this game. The bench guys hit 18 of 30 shots and held the Kings at bay in the fourth quarter, which they've had trouble doing this season.
"That's the first time the guys off the bench were able to get into our plays and execute," said guard Jeff Hornacek, who made seven of eight shots, including all four of his three-point attempts, for 22 points.
After nearly three quarters in which the Jazz would make a little run, only to see the Kings respond (or was that the other way around?), the key stretch started in the final minute of the third period. With the Kings trailing by six, 83-77, Spencer hit a short jumper in the lane. Sacramento's Mitch Richmond committed an offensive foul, and Karl Malone drilled a three-pointer at the buzzer for an 11-point Utah lead.
"I know where I get paid to play," the Mailman said, almost apologizing for shooting his second three of the season. "It was just one of those things where it was there."
Three minutes into the fourth quarter the Jazz lead was stuck at 10, but Antoine Carr knocked down a jump hook, Hornacek made a nifty pass to Keefe for a dunk, Hornacek pumped in a three, and Carr made a technical foul shot to put the Jazz up by 18.
Carr said the bench guys were determined to keep the starters on the bench.
"We wanted to give those guys a rest," the Big Dawg said. "That's something the second team has to be able to do."
If the Kings had an obvious fault in this game, it was too much focus on the officiating. They were called for 14 more fouls than the Jazz, and Utah shot 12 more free throws, but they started complaining early in the first quarter, roughly about the first time the refs blew a whistle.
"They (the refs) were killing us," said the Kings' Walt Williams. "We were out there giving 110 percent, just like them (the Jazz); why should they get better treatment?"
Kings coach Gary St. Jean gave the Jazz a little more credit.
"We were playing against what I think is one of the top two teams in the Western Conference," he said. "They're playing terrific basketball."
Malone led the Jazz with 25 points. He also had nine assists and seven rebounds and once again sat out the entire fourth quarter. The only other Jazzmen in double figures were David Benoit, with 15 (4 of 15 shots), and Carr, with 11.
The Jazz next play the Chicago Bulls on Friday night in the Delta Center.