With 2:34 left in Tuesday night's game at Arco Arena, Sacramento held an eight-point lead, with Walt Williams at the free-throw line for a pair of foul shots. The Kings were all smiles; rookies Michael Smith and Brian Grant shared a laugh over something; the game, they seemed to think, was in the bag.
The Utah Jazz are not easily bagged. They outscored the Kings 12-4 from that point, forcing overtime, then dominated Sacramento in the extra period for a 102-95 win."Stunned" barely describes the Kings' collective postgame disposition.
"It's a tough game to swallow," said Kings coach Gary St. Jean.
"It was a victory we should have had," said Kings center Duane Causwell.
The chief stunner was Jazz guard John Stockton. With 16 seconds left and Utah down by five, 89-84, Stockton dribbled downcourt, stepped around a screen by Karl Malone and fired up a high-arch three-pointer. Adam Keefe quickly fouled Williams, who had already surpassed his season scoring high, but Williams could only make the first of two.
Stockton raced down the left side, faked Kings guard Bobby Hurley into the air, leaped and shot. It was good . . . Or was it? There was a lot of debate afterward about whether Stockton's toes had been on the line when he shot. Sacramento's Mitch Richmond thought it was a two; he took the ensuing in-bounds pass and stayed in the backcourt, trying to dribble out the clock. Keefe thought it was a two; he made a diving attempt to foul Richmond. The only one whose vote counted, though, was the trail official, and he signaled three. Before the Kings figured that out, the buzzer sounded.
In overtime, the Kings had the all-hope-is-gone look of death-row inmates, the Jazz the happy countenances of men with a reprieve.
"We just started reacting defensively and helping each other, and they (the Kings) tightened up a little," said Jazz assistant coach Phil Johnson.
If you're wondering why Johnson is being quoted, it's because, for the second straight game, Jazz coach Jerry Sloan got the boot. With 1:48 left and his team trailing by seven, Sloan got two quick technical fouls from official Dan Crawford. As they did against Portland on Saturday, the Jazz proceeded to follow Sloan's exit with a rousing comeback.
Sloan wasn't even aware overtime had been forced because he thought the monitor in the visitors' locker room wasn't hooked up. By the time he turned it on, there were three minutes left in OT and his team was up 96-90.
What comments Sloan did offer after the game were fairly terse; it seemed evident that despite the victory he wasn't entirely happy with his team's effort, which included 22 turnovers.
The Jazz did have some serious cold spells. Midway through the first quarter, after leading by nine, Utah suddenly went eight possessions in which its total production was one free throw. In a miserable second quarter, the Jazz hit five of 15 shots, were outrebounded 14-6, and fell behind at intermission by 10.
(In fairness to players on both teams, the officiating didn't lend itself to smooth play. Their performance included a 10-foul, three-technical barrage in the first three minutes of the second quarter. Overall, they dished out seven technicals.) The Kings led by 11, 55-44, early in the third quarter, when the Jazz went on a 13-0 run featuring two David Benoit dunks. But Sacramento responded with an 8-0 surge of its own, and the Jazz ended the period trailing by five, 68-63.
The Jazz scored the first six points of overtime, while the Kings didn't even get a shot off in their opening three possessions. On one of those possessions, they were called for a rare illegal-offense violation - something one can go an entire season without seeing but which was whistled twice on this night. Sacramento scored a lone field goal in the five-minute period, and by that time the Jazz were ahead by 11.
"It was a sloppy game overall, but I thought we were in control," Causwell said. "It just got away from us."
The victory, Utah's fifth in a row and fourth straight on the road, allowed the Jazz to pick up a game in the standings on the San Antonio Spurs, who lost to Indiana at home. Utah now leads the Midwest Divison by 21/2.
Malone may want to think about spraining his ankle more often - despite it, he led the Jazz with 33 points (11 of 20 shots) and 12 rebounds. Stockton totaled 28 points (9 of 15) and 12 assists.
Williams led the Kings with 31 (8 turnovers), as the Jazz tried to guard him with everybody but Hot Rod Hundley.