Twelve games into an 82-game season, and the Utah Jazz have already put themselves in an impossible situation: What to do for an encore.
The Jazz overcame a 36-point deficit - believed to be the biggest comeback in NBA history - Wednesday night at the Delta Center against a Denver Nuggets team that had shot 73 percent from the field in the first half."I don't like to gloat in the glory," a beaming Karl Malone said after Utah's 107-103 victory, "but that was unbelievable. This game here, it's No. 1."
"I'm going to remember this and talk about this to my grandchildren," said Jazz forward Bryon Russell. "This is the best."
Over in the Denver locker room, the emotion was similarly intense, though on the other end of the spectrum.
"We looked like a deer in a headlight," Nuggets coach Dick Motta said of his team's collapse.
There are no official records kept of comebacks, but the Elias Sports Bureau told a Jazz PR representative that the biggest comeback ever from a halftime deficit occurred in 1988, when Philadelphia came back from 27 points down to defeat Boston.
The Jazz were down 34 - 70-36 - at halftime.
"I've seen teams up maybe 25 in the second quarter and come back," said Jazz guard Jeff Hornacek. "But we only had 24 minutes to do it."
Denver's spectacular first half made the comeback all the more incredible. Coming off a win Tuesday night over Phoenix, they came out shooting with confidence. Dale Ellis and Bryant Stith popped jumpers on autopilot and Denver missed just three shots in a 15-for-18 first quarter that saw them lead 37-19 at the buzzer.
"We were shell-shocked," Hornacek said. "If they went through a shooting drill with nobody on them, that's about what they'd shoot."
They barely let up in the second quarter. The Nuggets made 12 of 19 shots in that period, while the Jazz were going six for 21 from the field. Jazz coach Jerry Sloan already had one technical and appeared destined to watch the end of this game from his office. Jazz owner Larry H. Miller sprinted across the floor as the halftime buzzer went off, so he could hear Sloan's halftime tirade.
But Sloan didn't get upset. According to Miller, the coach calmly told the guys they could come back, but it would take an all-out effort from every guy to do it.
"He was really calm," Miller said. "I don't think I've seen him like that."
The Jazz responded by holding the Nuggets to two field goals in the third quarter. Sloan had his players throw a trap at Denver, and the Nuggets acted like they'd never seen one.
The Jazz's comeback started right about the time center Greg Ostertag went after Denver forward Antonio McDyess, who put John Stockton on the floor with a brutal pick. That was just seconds after Mark Jackson had similarly knocked Stockton down, and Ostertag objected.
"You can't let your point guard get hit like that and not do something," Ostertag said.
That was three minutes into the third period, and the Jazz still trailed by 33, 74-41. Players said the incident didn't get them fired up, but from that point, Utah scored 16 straight points. Suddenly, the impossible seemed within reach.
"Once we got it down to 15 and it was still only the third quarter, we knew we could win it," Hornacek said.
By the end of the third, Utah had cut the lead to 13, 85-72. Malone scored 15 points in the period; he and Russell each had six rebounds.
After a 3-pointer by Stith put the Nuggets ahead 88-74 a minute and a half into the fourth quarter, the Jazz mounted another charge. They scored 12 straight, including eight points from Chris Morris, who may have shown as much intensity as he's ever displayed in a Jazz uniform.
From that point, the game remained close. Stith did his best to keep the Nuggets in front, knocking down three 3-pointers in the final four minutes, but he was the only guy whose collar didn't tighten up.
"We chipped away and chipped away and they just choked," said Russell, making a choking sound.
The big plays down the stretch: a 3-pointer from Stockton, who to that point had made one of 10 shots, that answered a Stith trey; a 20-footer by Hornacek to put the Jazz ahead by one with 1:18 left; an offensive rebound by Russell and kickout pass to Hornacek for a 3 to put the Jazz up 103-101; and a deflected pass by Ostertag, who said he just happened to have his hand up in the air and got lucky.
Lucky or not, that deflection led to a Russell dunk to put Utah up by four, and Stockton's two free throws with 5.7 seconds left clinched it.
Malone finished with 31 points (13 of 25), 17 rebounds and six assists. Hornacek tossed in 29, Morris had 11 and Russell 10.
The victory was Utah's eighth in a row, the NBA's longest current streak. The Jazz next play Friday night at the Delta Center vs. the Clippers.